Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav on Wednesday took a jibe at the BJP government after it signed an MoU for ferry services and cruise tourism on the Yamuna, saying the ruling dispensation should first take effective steps to clean-up the “polluted” river.
Reacting to signing of MoU for ferry services and cruise tourism on the Yamuna river, he asserted the BJP government, like the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, instead of taking quick and effective steps to clean-up the polluted Yamuna, was trying to squander the taxpayers’ money on gimmicks like ‘cruise tourism’.
“Till the dirty water is flushed out of its toxic substances, no tourist with the right senses will take a boat ride in the river. The only purpose that would be served by this exercise would be to drown crores of public money into the river as it was done by the previous AAP government, which squandered Rs 6,856 crore in the name of Yamuna cleaning,” he said.
Yadav claimed that before coming to power, the BJP leaders had promised to prioritize the cleaning of Yamuna, as with a “double-engine” government at the Centre as well as in Delhi, it would be easy for cleaning the river.
He said the BJP government should first clean the river so that people cannot only take a cruise ride in clean waters, but also take a dip in the waters.
“The BJP government should have accorded priority in ensuring that only treated waters from the many sewers and drains are discharged into the Yamuna, but for that to happen, not only the functioning of the existing Sewage Treatment Plants (WTP) should be strengthened, but also create new STPs, so that only treated drain water is discharged into the river. This should be the first priority of the government,” Yadav said.