Union ministry tells par panel Yamuna water failed quality test at 22 of 33 locations
New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI): The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Monday said 22 of the 33 locations at Yamuna River being monitored did not meet the compliance standards of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2024.
A PowerPoint presentation by the ministry to a parliamentary standing committee said all seven and 12 locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, failed the "primary water quality criteria for outdoor bathing", while all four locations in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh each passed it, sources said.
In Haryana, three of the six locations at Yamuna met the required conditions, while as many failed, it added.
The CPCB's National Water Monitoring Programme (NWMP) evaluates water under the metrics of Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), pH and Faecal Coliform.
Lack of adequate sewage treatment, besides untapped drains in the national capital, a major source of pollution in the river, which is the biggest tributary of the Ganga, are important causes for contamination in the Yamuna, the sources said.
The ministry, in its presentation to the committee, said 791 MLD (megalitres per day) of sewage out of the total 3,600 MLD generated in Delhi remains untreated, according to the figures of February 2025.
The ministry officials said out of 22 drains in the city, only nine are tapped, and two are partially tapped, according to the sources.
However, there are nine untapped drains in Tughlakabad, Abul Fazal, ISBT, Sonia Vihar, Kailash Nagar, Shastri Park, Barapulla, Maharani Bagh and Jaitpur, while two large drains -- Najafgarh and Shahdara -- are not technically feasible for tapping.
The ministry noted that Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had constituted a high-level committee for reviewing the action plan to curb pollution in the Yamuna River in January 2023.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
