Efforts on to revive dying Hindon river: Uma Bharti

New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) With dissolved oxygen levels as low as 0.4 milligram per litre, Hindon river, a tributary of Yamuna, is not in a good condition and efforts are on to revive the dying river, the government said on Thursday.

"The assessment of the water quality of Hindon by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) indicates that the river is not meeting the criteria with respect to dissolved oxygen, conductivity, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total coliform and faecal coliform," Water Resources and River Development Minister Uma Bharti informed the Lok Sabha.

The dissolved oxygen, as low as 0.4 milligram per litre (mg/l), has been observed downstream in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur town (around 200 km from Delhi), she said, adding the high level of BOD can be attributed to discharge of industrial effluents.

The Hindon, which originates in Uttarakhand, flows through Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Baghpat and Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) in Uttar Pradesh and receives municipal and and industrial waste from these towns.

Bharti said that under the first phase of Yamuna Action Plan, pollution abatement efforts including interception, diversion and treatment of sewage, afforestation, developing improved wood crematoria and increasing public awareness are being made.

"Projects worth Rs.159.35 crore have been implemented in the towns of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar to reduce the domestic pollution load in Hindon," the minister said.

She said a sewage treatment capacity of 269.5 million litres per day has been created in these towns.

Bharti said that according to Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), of the 108 major water polluting industries discharging their waste water directly into the river, 107 industries have installed effluent treatment plants and one unit has been closed down by UPPCB.

"Notices have been issued by UPPCB to one distillery, five sugar mills and four industrial units to comply with various pollution control norms," Bharti said in response to a question by Biju Janata Dal MP Baijayant Jay Panda.