Ganga, Yamuna no cleaner than 20 years ago: Ramesh

October 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will chair the first meeting of the Ganga River Basin Authority (GRBA) here today.

September 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Immersion of idols of Goddess Durga in the river Yamuna on the last day of Navratri, has led to a rise in pollution level in the already contaminated river. "We don't feel good when we come here.

September 17th, 2009 AGRA - Just behind the Taj Mahal, thousands of dead fish have been floating down the Yamuna river here for the past three days. Residents have been gathering the dead fish and eating them, and there were reports Friday of some people falling ill because at least some of the fish may be carrying pollutants.

September 16th, 2009 AGRA - The usually dry Yamuna river flowed in full spate in Agra Wednesday, providing a "pleasant sight" in the backdrop of the Taj Mahal. "For so long we have been used to a river which had been reduced to a sewage canal, but now the whole scenario has changed.

September 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) junior engineer, who was in charge of track maintenance, was suspended on Sunday after a coach of the Delhi Metro train derailed on the Yamuna Bank-Dwarka this morning. According to reports, the incident took place around 6 a.m, when two wheels of the front coach of the train between Yamuna Bank-Dwarka went off the tracks.

September 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Delhi Administration has swung into action to rescue villagers dwelling on the banks of the River Yamuna on Saturday The river swelled close to danger level following incessant rains in the catchments areas. According to official sources, the water level in Yamuna had reached 204.55 meters on Saturday morning.

September 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Yamuna river has risen due to the heavy rains over the past few days and is likely to cross the danger mark and flood low-lying areas along the bank in the national capital Saturday, an official said. "By 8 a.m. today (Saturday), the water level in Yamuna had reached 204.55 metres.

July 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Despite spending 17,000 crore rupees on river cleaning projects, Ganga and Yamuna were "no cleaner" now as they were two decades ago, the government has admitted in Lok Sabha. Responding to a Calling Attention Motion on checking pollution in rivers and lakes in India, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said: "I admit with full responsibility that Ganga and Yamuna are no cleaner than 20 years ago." Ramesh added that a "determined and renewed effort" was required to cleanse these major rivers.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The water quality of the Yamuna river has not shown "desired improvement", the government admitted Monday, despite spending Rs.872.15 crore since the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) was launched in 1993. Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh informed the Rajya Sabha: "The water quality of Yamuna has not shown the desired improvement owing to large gap between between the demand and availability of sewage treatment capacity and lack of fresh water in the river." Replying to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party member Ramdas Agarwal, Ramesh said: "Under the plan so far an expenditure of Rs.872.15 crore has been incurred and sewage treatment capacity of 753.25 million litres per day has been created." The minister added that for the river which runs through the national capital, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) "has prepared schemes for laying of interceptor sewers along three major drains namely Najafgarh, Shahdara and Supplementary, augmentation of sewage treatment capacity, interception of drains, rehabilitation of trunk sewers, laying of sewerage system in unsewered colonies and rural areas and desilting of peripheral/ internal sewers.

June 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Leader of Opposition in the Delhi assembly V.K. Malhotra Wednesday criticised Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for reportedly saying that cleaning of the Yamuna river would take several more years.

June 3rd, 2009 PATNA - The Bihar government has earmarked Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.10 billion) for an ambitious project to save river Ganga from pollution by cleaning up the drains that empty into it here. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar late Tuesday said that untreated sewage and garbage would not be allowed to go into the river.

May 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The activists of Yamuna Satyagraha here on Sunday protested against the expansion of the Delhi metro rail line touching the banks of river. The activists observed the opening day of the Yamuna Bank station as "Black Day" in protest against "DMRC's continues encroachment on the Yamuna's floodplain in the form of the Yamuna metro complex".

March 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A group of social activists of the Save Ganga Movement met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and thanked him for setting up the Ganga River Basin Authority to stop pollution and degradation ofthe river reverred by millions in India. The authority, set up in February, will consolidate the current piecemeal efforts to clean up the Ganga with an integrated approach that sees the river as an ecological entity.

February 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A Rs.15-billion project to decrease the levels of pollution in the Yamuna river by trapping pollutants at major sewage drains is ready to be implemented, Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Tejender Khanna announced here Sunday. 'A major project costing Rs.15 billions to trap pollutants at Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at 18 major sewage drains falling into the Yamuna river is ready for implementation to ensure that only clean water from the entire city flows into the river,' Khanna said while flagging off Yamuna Rally at Jamia Millia Islamia organised by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

February 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A 77-year-old former Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) professor ended his fast-unto-death here Friday after the central government accepted his demand to suspend work on a hydroelectric project on the Ganga river in Uttarakhand. G.D. Agrawal, a former dean of IIT-Kanpur, was sitting on a fast for over a month - it began Jan 14 - near Birla temple in the capital, protesting the construction of the Lohari Nag Pala hydro-electric project in the Uttarkashi region.