Yamuna cleaner amid COVID lockdown: NGT seeks PCB report

Believe it or not, the 21-day mandatory nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a good news for Yamuna river as pictures of a fuller and cleaner tributary has taken netizens by storm, pointing towards the reduced pollution levels.

Look this is possible!
Pictures of Yamuna River are going viral. 2019 the river frothed and the river is all blue now with a clean sky. Do we learn something here?
Pics from social media pic.twitter.com/NqVILHkh0W

— Sudha Ramen IFS ?? (@SudhaRamenIFS) April 5, 2020

Related news: In shutdown, Cauvery breathes life; shows dispute has little to do with river

This is Yamuna River from Kalindi Kunj. In short: we're such a burden on this planet. @abhinavmathur thanks for sharing these. pic.twitter.com/CWbG0wETp7

— Dr Ritesh Malik (@drriteshmalik) April 3, 2020

Even as people are happy to see a froth-free river, the National Green Tribunal-appointed Yamuna Monitoring Committee has asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to submit a report on the water quality in a week.

Both, CPCB and DPCC started collecting water samples on Monday (April 6).

According to media reports, C. R. Babu, professor emeritus at Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Delhi University, said that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that the pollution load in the Yamuna has reduced due to the lockdown.

He said that the quantity of sewage that is discharge into the drains which flow into the Yamuna remains the same, but there is marked reduction in the industrial pollution load, particularly from Haryana.

“But I have doubts that Yamuna got cleaned during the lockdown. For the river to clean itself in 10 days, it needs a huge amount of water,” he said.

On the contrary, few pictures on Twitter also show the pollution load in the river has not reduced significantly as being claimed, with thin layers of toxic foam still floating on its surface.

People r reporting how the quality of Yamuna river has improved in past few days due 2 lockdown henceforth less pollution.Unfortunately reality is altered.Yamuna continues 2 b polluted as before & it needs to get rid of toxic foam on its surface.Picture on right was clicked today pic.twitter.com/Wx5w9zIy1z

— Ajatika Singh (@Ajatikaa) April 5, 2020