A day after several hundred idols were immersed in the Yamuna on the last day of Durga Puja overloading an already polluted river, the Delhi Government’s Environment Department started the process of cleaning up and decongesting it on Thursday. The work is expected to end by early next week.

Delhi Environment & Forest secretary Sanjiv Kumar said: “This year the department began the work of ensuring that the river was put under as little stress as possible because of the immersion and we had regular meetings with the registered Puja committees asking them to use only environment-friendly material which does not harm the river further. As a follow-up to the exercise we also interacted with various stakeholders early this week to review the measures put in place for idol immersion in the Yamuna during Durga Puja.”

Devotees Throng Yamuna Ghats On Vijaya Dashami, But Say River Dirtier Than Ever

New Delhi:There were four official ghats where the Delhi government had permitted immersions on Wednesday, the day of Durga v i s a r j a n.

New Delhi: The annual cleaning of the Ganga Canal is likely to create problems for the capital this year.

Haryana, UP, Delhi under fire. The court noted that Rs 1,062 crore had been spent by the Centre alone for fighting Yamuna pollution.

Seeks Affidavit From Centre, UP, Delhi, Haryana

Pulls up the Centre, U.P., Haryana and Delhi for the mess

The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the worsening quality of water in the Yamuna due to high level of pollution though over Rs 1,800 crores had been spent to contain pollution. A Bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B. Lokur, hearing a petition relating to Yamuna water said, “It is unfortunate that huge amount of public funds are spent without showing any improvement in water quality.”

LUCKNOW: The numbers of the Gangetic dolphins in Uttar Pradesh have registered an increase, reveals the latest dolphin census report.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav, has blamed the Delhi Government for the alarming pollution level in the Yamuna upstream of Agra. “Yamuna has been killed by Delhi”, Mr. Yadav said, speaking at a function for releasing the population figures of the Gangetic dolphin.

On the conclusion of the three-day “Save Ganga Save Dolphin” campaign on Sunday, Mr. Yadav expressed happiness that the number of the mammal had gone up from 600 in 2005 to 671 in 2012 in the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh.

LUCKNOW: The Gangetic river dolphin census and awareness campaign was flagged off by transport minister Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh on Friday.