Funds for interceptor project sanctioned (The Hindu- 27 Jan. 2010)

Staff Reporter

Sewer project to clean up the Yamuna will take four years to complete

The interceptors will catch all the sewage that flows from the city into the river

‘With Rs.1,260 crore sanctioned, remaining money will be raised by the Delhi Government’

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Jal Board’s ambitious interceptor sewer project to clean up the Yamuna has moved a step closer towards realisation. The project that was hanging fire for lack of funds was sanctioned money by the Expenditure Finance Committee of the Union Finance Ministry this past week. The EFC, which met on January 21, has agreed to sanction Rs.460 crore towards the project for setting up interceptor under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and a loan of Rs.800 crore has been sanctioned by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO). The project that will take four years to complete requires about Rs.1,700 crore. According to sources, with Rs.1,260 crore sanctioned, the remaining money will be raised by the Delhi Government. “If the money is sanctioned in time and the tendering process is complete by February, work on the project can start by June. It will take about four years to complete,” say sources.

The project envisages making the Yamuna a zero-sewage zone. The interceptors will catch all the sewage that flows from the city into the river. Sewage from 18 big drains across the city in the absence of an interceptor flow into the Yamuna. The Jal Board hopes to change that with the proposed project where filth and sewage will be intercepted and treated before releasing it into the river.

“All the sewage from the minor drains will be tapped into the three major drains -- Najafgarh, Supplementary and Shahdara -- and then will be treated before being discharged into the Yamuna,” said sources.

Even as the Delhi Jal Board has been touting the project as an effective means to curb pollution in the Yamuna, the Centre for Science and Environment has petitioned the Supreme Court against the project. In its report on “Sewage Canal: How to clean the Yamuna”, the CSE has claimed a “paradigm shift is needed in the approach to clean the river”. The CSE case in the Supreme Court objecting to the interceptor sewers system is coming up for hearing this Wednesday.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu