Delhi govt launches Yamuna riverfront project

The Yamuna riverfront will be the "polar opposite" to the one along Sabarmati river banks in Ahmedabad, the Delhi government said today, while launching a Rs 200-crore project here in this regard.

The ambitious plan, which was in cold storage for nearly three years, was green flagged at the 'Yamuna Aarti' event at Sonia Ghat in presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the entire AAP Cabinet.

At the event, Kejriwal stuck up the familiar refrain that the BJP-run Centre and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung were trying to create developmental barriers in the national capital.

At last year's Aarti, he had promised to clean and revive the heavily-polluted river in five years.

The AAP government initiated the event along the lines of Varanasi's famed Ganga Aarti. A medley of cultural performances and inter-faith devotional prayers took place on the occasion, which had a substantial audience.

Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra, who made announcement, said the project, which aims to beautify the riverfront, will come up in the next one-and-a-half-years with eco-friendly materials being its construction base.

"The Sabarmati riverfront has been laid out with concrete. This is not the case with our project. We are planning to plant trees across the entire stretch of the riverfront," he said.

Mishra said Delhi government has requested the Centre for Rs 5,000 crore for the Yamuna turnaround plan from the Rs 20,000 crore kitty of the Ganga rejuvenation plan.

The government seeks to develop the entire riverfront stretch in Delhi by way of creating wetlands with a variety of plants to clean sewage flowing into the river among other methods as per ecologist C R Babu's recommendations submitted in 2013.

The Geeta ghat is also in the process of being revamped. A 'Nakshatra Vatika' (garden as per Vedic astrology) and a medicinal garden are being built there.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the government is planning to include the past, present and the future of Yamuna in school curriculum in Delhi.

Kejriwal in his speech alleged, "It (Centre) has been constantly troubling us and made our lives difficult. Neither do they work, nor do they let us work."

"People there are asking us to set up mohalla clinics and reform government schools just like we did in Delhi. This is why we are winning Punjab," he said.

"One poor person put it right, people elected Kejriwal as the Chief Minster, but Modiji through betrayal made Lt Governor the CM," Kejriwal tweeted.