Union Home Minister to inaugurate DJB projects worth Rs 1800 crore

New Delhi, Sept 29 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate 20 projects related to the water and sewerage sector on Tuesday from Keshopur sewage treatment plant (STP), officials said.

These projects mostly involve upgradation of existing STPs, laying new sewer lines under the 'Sewa Pakhwara' events, are constructed at a cost of Rs 1800 crore.

The inauguration of mega Okhla STP which was earlier in the list of events, touted to be Asia's largest such facility, has been postponed, officials informed.

According to a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) official, the main inauguration event will take place at Keshopur where the board is augmenting two of its existing STPs at the cost of Rs 504.12 crore. These plants will serve to the full sewage load of West Delhi catering to approximately 25 lakh households, he said.

Water minister Parvesh Verma has also announced that in the recent board meeting, several projects for setting up decentralised sewage treatment plants (DSTPs) were approved.

"The DSTP projects will be set up on drains and other areas where traditional plants can not be set up. We plan to connect every household to the sewerage infrastructure network. These DSTPs will benefit approximately 11 lakh people," Verma said.

No objection certificates have been obtained for fifteen DSTPs which will enhance the existing sewage treatment capacity by around 39 million gallons per day (MGD) connecting households in Narela, Bawana and Mundka areas, officials said.

Around 59 residential colonies and 37 villages will be covered under this DSTP project, including Tajpur, Sungerpur, Jaunti, Bhaktawarpur villages and colonies like Punjab Khor, Jat Khor, Khera Khurd etc.

Earlier this year, the Delhi government announced the setting up of 40 DSTPs planned by the DJB.

In areas where large-scale STPs cannot be constructed due to space limitations, the board plans to install these smaller plants to ensure localised waste management, the government had said.

Currently, the DJB has a sewage treatment capacity of around 600-700 million gallons per day (MGD) across all existing STPs. The government plans to increase this capacity to 1,250 MGD by June 2027. PTI SSM SSM OZ OZ