Navy Boat, Brought In To Assess Yamuna's Waterway Potential, Docked At Banks

An Indian Navy boat, deployed to help clean the river Yamuna in Delhi, has been docked near the Signature Bridge. The boat will be used to vet Yamuna's potential as a waterway channel.

The Navy's 'Barasingha' has been docked for over a week at the riverbanks, as a trailer that brought it from Kochi, could not access any other suitable location on Yamuna. Visuals show the boat stationed at a spot, with two Navy officers standing guard near the fetid-smelling water. 

The LG office refuted reports that the boat was "stuck" in mud or that it was meant for dredging.

The desilting would cover a 22 km stretch from Wazirabad to Okha, believed to be the dirtiest and most toxic part. The boat also aimed to survey and monitor the clean-up amid plans to set up an inland waterway in the Yamuna.

Now the sludge has to be dredged just so the boat can move and do its job, officials said. The dredging exercise is likely to be completed by June 20.

Considered one of the most sacred rivers of India, the Yamuna is also among the most polluted because of human activity like the immersion of ashes of the dead, religious rituals, household waste and industrial effluents.

Because of the sewage, parts of the river have often been coated by thick white foam, unfit for any use.

According to a Delhi pollution panel report, nearly Rs 6,856 crore has been spent between 2017 and 2021 to clean up the Yamuna in Delhi, but large stretches of the river remain severely polluted.