Yamuna is getting purified after AAP lost elections: Men and machines working on a mission mode to clean the river in Delhi under the BJP government

The results of the Delhi Assembly elections were declared on 8 February 2025. In these results, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a crushing defeat. With this, the BJP returned to power after 26 years. When the then Chief Minister of Delhi, Atishi, went to submit her resignation to the Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena, he said, “You have been cursed by Yamuna Maiya.”

Cleaning of Yamuna was among the BJP’s major election issues in the Delhi elections. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to all other BJP leaders, everyone mentioned this as AAP’s failure in every rally. After coming to power, the BJP made it clear that it would make cleaning the Yamuna its priority.

It has been almost 3 months since the change of power in Delhi. To inspect how much work has been done for cleaning the Yamuna in these 90 days, OpIndia reached the banks of Yamuna in Delhi and those places where its condition was very bad earlier. OpIndia tried to find out what action the Delhi government is taking to clean the Yamuna.

Machines and workers are busy cleaning in Kalindi Kunj

During this time, OpIndia also talked to people who have been living on the banks of Yamuna for years or are in some way associated with them. OpIndia reached the Kalindi Kunj Ghat of the Yamuna River on Thursday (May 8, 2025) afternoon. Here, Yamuna was looking cleaner from a distance. However, on giving a closer look, the water appeared a little dirty, and some garbage was also visible at the gate near the Kalindi Kunj bridge. As we moved ahead, we saw that a garbage-removing machine was placed on the bank.

People working on this machine were present here. They told OpIndia that they have been engaged in cleaning the Yamuna for several months. A worker present there said that after the new government came to power in Delhi, the cleaning of the Yamuna has gained momentum. He said that the officials also keep giving them guidelines from time to time.

Here on the beautiful paved ghat built on the banks of Yamuna, cleanliness and greenery were visible all around.

The water level in Yamuna increased after the BJP government

After Kalindi Kunj Ghat, OpIndia also reached the Yamuna Ghat located at ITO. Here, at one end, a big JCB was busy building the Ghat, while at the other end, a machine was engaged in removing garbage from the river. Here too, the work of cleaning the Yamuna was going on at a war footing as silt was being removed with the help of JCB, and water was being cleaned by removing garbage.

Here too, Yamuna was looking much cleaner than earlier. Sunil Giri, who has been present at the Ghat for years, said that the water level of Yamuna, which was very low earlier, has increased since the BJP government came to power.

Sunil Giri said that now, aarti is performed regularly on the Chhath Ghat of Yamuna, and a large number of devotees gather here. Diver Jumman, present at the Ghat, said that the Delhi government is currently spending a lot of money on cleaning the Yamuna.

He advised that all the 32 dams here should be cleaned, and that the effect of this entire exercise will be visible once the gates of the dams are opened and water is released. Sevadaar Raju Thakur, who was at the Ghat, said that people come with full devotion to take a bath in the Yamuna, but after seeing the dirty water, they return after joining their hands (to offer pranam) from a distance. He said that the ongoing cleaning efforts are appreciable.

Similarly, the cleaning exercise is going on at other banks of the Yamuna. At some places, garbage is being removed, and at other places, the accumulated silt is being removed. Ghats are also being renovated to restore the glory of Yamuna. Drains that bring dirty water into the Yamuna and pollute it are being closed.

Yamuna is the dirtiest in Delhi

The Yamuna River flows to Delhi from Uttarakhand via Haryana. It meets the Ganga at Prayagraj. Its total length is 1376 kilometres, out of which about 54 kilometres lie in Delhi. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in a report said that the Yamuna is most polluted in Delhi.

According to the NGT, “The stretch between Wazirabad and Okhla is 22 km long, which is not even 2% of the total length of the river from Yamunotri to Allahabad, which is 1370 km. But it accounts for nearly 76% of the river’s pollution.”

NGT also said that apart from the monsoon season, sewage flows into Yamuna in Wazirabad in Delhi for 9 months. According to the report, 22 drains join Yamuna here, and these are the ones that pollute Delhi the most. NGT assured to work on this.

The Delhi government approved ₹3100 crore

The Rekha Gupta government in Delhi recently called an important meeting of the Expenditure Finance Committee in the Secretariat. In this meeting, many important projects for the development of Delhi were discussed, and ₹3140 crore was approved for cleaning the Yamuna River.

The Delhi government said that 27 sewage treatment plants would be built with this expenditure. Earlier, ₹500 crores were given for cleaning the Yamuna in the budget 2025-26. Apart from this, efforts are now being made to implement the plans that were made earlier for cleaning the Yamuna.

Not only the Rekha Gupta government of Delhi, but the Modi government at the Centre is also serious about cleaning the Yamuna. In April 2025 itself, PM Modi held a meeting regarding the cleaning of the Yamuna. In the meeting, PM Modi proposed that the public should be made a part of cleaning the Yamuna. He also talked about Chhath.

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