In a major financial boost, the Central government has recently approved ₹800 crore for the Delhi Jal Board under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme to provide sewer connections in slums and unauthorised colonies across the city.
A meeting was held earlier this month between the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) officials and the apex committee on the AMRUT scheme under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs where funds were approved under the Yamuna cleaning project.
According to the proposal, around 13,000 new sewer connections in the slum areas will be provided under the AMRUT scheme for holistic improvement of the Yamuna river.
"The Union Territory (Delhi) was also advised to work holistically for Yamuna rejuvenation and sewerage management and to have a clear sludge processing strategy to work out its reuse," an official document said.
Currently, the DJB is unable to treat the entire amount of sewage generated by the city to increase its overall sewage treatment capacity by connecting all households to sewerage treatment infrastructure.
In the first budget of the new BJP government, water and sewerage sector has been given one of the biggest shares of ₹9,000 crore.
Delhi Chief minister Rekha Gupta has allocated ₹500 crore for repair of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in the budget, this covers the two projects.
The DJB currently has 37 STPs and out of these 18 are under upgradation projects to increase the overall treatment capacity of sewerage treatment in the city, said officials.
For the past few years, the DJB has been working on the Interceptor Sewer Project, which entails trapping all drains and diverting the wastewater flowing in them to the nearby STP. However, there are some drains where trapping is not possible like the Najafgarh drain, eventually the wastewater enters Yamuna.
"Through this fund we plan to increase our overall sewerage capacity in the next few years. For the past few years, the department has been trying to provide sewer connections in all areas so that there is no untreated sewage flowing openly in the drains and eventually landing in Yamuna," said a DJB official.
The Centre has also directed the DJB to come up with ways of proper and complete utlisation of treated wastewater for non-drinking purposes.
The Jal Shakti Ministry has asked the board to carry out a party audit of all existing sewage treatment plants.
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