The BJP’s tall promises of cleaning the Yamuna have come crashing down under the weight of facts revealed by its own agency. In a scathing revelation, senior AAP leader and MLA Sanjeev Jha cited a recent Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) report that shows pollution levels in the Yamuna have doubled or even tripled in areas where the river was previously clean.
Far from fulfilling its claim of rejuvenating the Yamuna within 90 days, the BJP-led Delhi government has presided over worsening conditions six months into its tenure. Sanjeev Jha slammed the BJP regime for failing despite having BJP governments at the Centre, in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, and demanded that CM Rekha Gupta publicly release a detailed progress report on the Yamuna clean-up drive.
In a press conference, senior AAP leader and MLA Sanjeev Jha stated that a recent report by the DPCC on pollution in the Yamuna has exposed the false and hollow promises of the BJP government. During the Delhi elections, senior BJP leaders, including PM Narendra Modi, had made grand claims about cleaning the river. “Immediately after forming the government in Delhi, BJP leaders including LG and CM Rekha Gupta rushed to the banks of the Yamuna for photo-ops. Countless social media reels were made, and loud proclamations were made that the river would be cleaned within one to three months,” Sanjeev Jha said.
He noted that the DPCC had collected water samples from several locations along the Yamuna on July 1, and released its findings on July 18. “The report reveals that pollution levels in the Yamuna have worsened drastically since the BJP came to power. Areas where the water was previously clean have now shown a significant decline in quality. From Palla to Wazirabad—a 22-km stretch—the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Fecal Coliform (FC) levels have surged two to three times,” he added.
“In my own Burari constituency, the Yamuna used to flow clean. But two months ago, all the fish died due to the rise in pollution. This is irrefutable evidence of environmental degradation under BJP’s regime,” said the AAP MLA.
Sanjeev Jha reminded the public that the BJP had promised to clean the Yamuna in 90 days. “It has now been over six months. If the cleaning was progressing at a rapid pace, how did the pollution increase in areas that were previously clean? What explains this reversal?” he asked.
He reiterated the Aam Aadmi Party’s long-standing position: that industrial waste from Haryana is the root cause of Yamuna’s pollution. “BJP had consistently denied this and accused us of defaming Haryana. But now, even the DPCC has acknowledged that industrial waste from Haryana is polluting the Yamuna in the Palla region,” Sanjeev Jha said.
He further added, “The real sources of Yamuna’s pollution within Delhi are untreated industrial discharges from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. AAP has consistently maintained that if Haryana and UP treated their waste before it reached the river, Yamuna within Delhi would remain clean.”
Taking a dig at the BJP’s ‘double engine government’, Sanjeev Jha said, “Now BJP has a four-engine government—at the Centre, in Haryana, in Uttar Pradesh, and even in Delhi. Yet, Yamuna pollution continues to worsen and BJP remains silent. The CM of Delhi and the Environment Minister must answer the public: how much progress has been made in cleaning the Yamuna over the last six months?”
He demanded a public disclosure of the status of Yamuna cleaning, including progress under the Yamuna Action Plan-III. “The BJP government had included Yamuna cleaning in its 90-day action plan, but the situation has only deteriorated,” he said.
Sanjeev Jha underlined that the timing of the DPCC report makes it all the more serious: “This report is from July—a month when monsoon rains begin and Haryana releases water into the Yamuna. Ideally, pollution levels should have dropped. But they increased. Every promise BJP made has turned out to be a lie, and it is their own agency that is proving this.”
“From schools, hospitals, electricity and medicines to free bus services—BJP has taken a U-turn on every promise made to Delhi’s people. Their promise to clean the Yamuna is no different. We hope the Chief Minister and the Environment Minister will break their silence and explain this worsening crisis,” Sanjeev Jha concluded.
