Supreme Court worried about the status of growing pollution in Yamuna

Supreme Court on 10 October 2012 expressed its serious concerns over Yamuna and the growing rate of pollution in its water although a huge sum of about 1800 crore rupees had been spent on containing pollution in the river.

The Supreme Court of India on issues of pollution in River Yamuna criticized to the Centre and Governments of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The Bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B. Lokur in its statement said it an unfortunate event that without showing any improvement in the quality of water such a huge public fund has been invested.

Investments made by the Center, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for cleaning the water of Yamuna till date was 1062 crore, 219 crore and 200 crore rupees, respectively.

The bench considering the report issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which points out the growing concentration of pollutants along the stretch of river, directed the Secretary of Union Urban Development Minister and chief secretaries of the three state along with civic bodies and concerned ministries to file a report in detail, about the works undertaken by them from Hathnikund to Agra, so far. The report measured coli content to be 17 billion per 100 ml in Delhi, since March 2012.

This Bench of Supreme Court ordering, the concerned authorities to be present in the court on the next hearing on 30 October 2012 made it clear that the report should contain the number of sewage treatment plants installed and functional on the sewers that join the river, may it be domestic, industrial or other waste that joins the river. It also directed the states and the center to present the names of their representatives for being included in the expert committee that would be constituted to suggest the future action plan to control pollution in Yamuna.