BJP criticises Delhi govt for "ignoring" Yamuna

Opposition BJP today criticised the Sheila Dikshit government for allegedly ignoring the Yamuna river, saying pollution in the water body had gone up several times while the government "put its entire focus on corruption".
"We have been raising this issue since the last 14 years in the Delhi Assembly. Yamuna has become 14 times dirtier in the last 14 years. Supreme Court has pulled up the government several times," Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra said.
"There have been so many schemes, foreign tours, Rs three to four thousand crore have been spent but their entire focus is on corruption," Malhotra said, adding, BJP will clean up the river within a year if it comes to power.

He, along with several BJP MLAs, today staged a protest at NDMC office and tried to march towards Prime Minister's residence before being arrested and later released by Delhi police.
"Yamuna has reached such a poor state that Delhi is earning a bad name world over. Visiting foreigners get to see its ugly side and there are advisories which say that people should neither bath in it nor think of entering it. Devotees cannot bath in it on Chhath Pooja, or Shivratri," Malhotra claimed.
He said his party had decided to raise the issue in the coming assembly session and in Parliament.

"We have decided to raise the issue in the upcoming assembly session and our party will raise it in the Lok Sabha," he said.
"We would support Yamuna Bachao Yatra activists who are coming to Delhi tomorrow, and our movement will continue until we uproot this government," Malhotra said.
The protesting MLAs were arrested by Delhi police when they tried to march towards Prime Minister's residence. They were taken to Parliament Street police station from where they were released after a short while.