Yamuna cleaner ahead of Chhath, says Delhi water minister; AAP rejects claim

New Delhi: Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Verma on Saturday said the Yamuna river's water quality ahead of Chhath was better than last year, citing data on faecal coliform bacteria.

Verma, in a joint press conference with Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, slammed the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose leaders are targeting the BJP government over Yamuna pollution during the Chhath festival.

Verma said the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) collected Yamuna water samples on October 9 and October 20 from eight points, including Palla, Wazirabad Barrage, Okhla Barrage, ITO, and Yamuna Canal, among others.

The faecal coliform bacteria concentration in the Yamuna has come down to 7,900 units per 100 ml at Nizamuddin this year, from 11 lakh units per 100 ml last year, Verma said.

The count similarly dipped over the year from 920 to 600 at Palla, from 16,000 to 800 at Wazirabad, and from 35,000 to 7,000 at ITO, he said.

“They (the opposition) are baffled because our government, led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, is doing a lot of work, and women are praising the preparations being made for the celebration of Chhath,” the minister said.

According to Verma, water samples collected from ISBT also showed improvement with the bacterial count down to 8,000 this year from 28,000 in 2024.

It dropped to 7,900 from 11 lakh at Nizamuddin, to 2,700 from 18 lakh at Okhla, and to 1,600 from 22 lakh at Agra Canal, he said.

“AAP leaders, including its Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj, are raising the issue of Yamuna pollution, while the truth is that no DPCC reports on it were published during the AAP government’s rule,” he alleged.

In a post on X, AAP's Bharadwaj cited a DPCC report dated October 23, claiming that the Yamuna’s water was “not even suitable for bathing” and contained “human waste in alarming quantity”.

As per the report dated 23.10.2025 of Delhi Govt’s DPCC, the water in Yamuna is NOT even suitable for bathing.
This report shows Yamuna water is very polluter and contains human waste (potty) in alarming quantity.

Imagine, BJP leaders for their false propaganda & Bihar… pic.twitter.com/qWyspZTBKU

— Saurabh Bharadwaj (@Saurabh_MLAgk) October 25, 2025

He further alleged that the Haryana government had diverted water from the Eastern Yamuna Canal for a week, which would worsen pollution levels once the diversion stopped.