Delhi CM Rekha Gupta joins Yamuna cleaning drive with Cabinet colleagues

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, her Cabinet colleagues and senior BJP leaders joined people in a ‘Chalo Yamuna’ campaign on Sunday morning to manually remove garbage along 70 ghats on both banks of the heavily polluted river.

Gupta also urged people to become ‘Yamuna Praharis’ and contribute to keep the river clean.

The chief minister, who picked up garbage from the riverbank at the Hathi Ghat near ITO, said, “I found that a large quantity of broken pieces of idols of deities and other items used in worship were thrown into the river. Plastic was also thrown in large quantities.”

She said it is the responsibility of everyone who has faith in the Yamuna to keep it clean.

She said the Delhi government is taking several steps to clean the Yamuna, including tapping drain water flowing into the river by setting up decentralised sewerage treatment plants and desilting drains.

Union minister and Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra, Delhi ministers Parvesh Sahib Singh, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ashish Sood, Pankaj Singh and Ravinder Indraj, BJP MPs and other senior leaders participated in the campaign at various locations.

Thousands of young people, members of resident welfare associations (RWAs) and NGOs “enthusiastically” participated in the campaign and volunteered to clean the Yamuna, according to a Delhi CMO statement.

“The resolve to clean the Yamuna could be realised only when every section of society actively participates alongside the government’s efforts,” Gupta said.

Appealing to Delhiites not to leave religious offerings, damaged idols, plastic wrappers or other waste in the Yamuna or at its ghats, Gupta said every citizen must change their behaviour and ensure that no waste reaches the river.

The government is prioritising all the necessary work to control the sources of pollution entering the river, she said.