A few months ago, the Delhi government brought in a ‘Watermaster dredger’ that it had imported from Finland to clean the Sahibi river (also called Najafgarh Drain) near Dwarka in the national capital.
The measure was part of ongoing efforts to remove sludge, weeds, and pollution in the water body before it joins the Yamuna.
The Sahibi begins in the Sikar and Jaipur districts of Rajasthan. It passes through Alwar and Gurgaon districts in Haryana before entering Delhi near Dhansa.
Today though, the Sahibi or Najafgarh Drain is also famous for contributing nearly 70 per cent of the Yamuna’s total pollution load.
The equipment was expensive, with the dredger costing a little over Rs 8 crore, while the hopper barges that were deployed cost Rs 5.25 crore. So much to keep the Yamuna, only two per cent of which flows through Delhi, clean.