Contemporary plan afoot to divert Ganga water for Yamuna clean-up

The Centre and the Delhi authorities are engaged on a mission to divert water from the Higher Ganga Canal (UGC) to the Yamuna in Delhi to extend river circulate and dilute air pollution, officers instructed The Hindu.

The proposal, estimated to price round ₹4,500 crore, was mentioned at a gathering chaired by Union Dwelling Minister Amit Shah final week. Officers mentioned a Detailed Undertaking Report (DPR) is being ready and is more likely to be accomplished by October.

The plan envisages diverting about 500 million gallons per day (MGD) of water from the UGC, the biggest canal drawing from the Ganga and flowing by western Uttar Pradesh, into the Yamuna.

Because the canal doesn’t go by Delhi or join straight with the Yamuna, the mission proposes a 29-km twin pipeline or canal system to hold the water. About 500 cusecs will probably be drawn from the Muradnagar regulator in Ghaziabad.

Officers mentioned Uttar Pradesh wouldn’t lose water because the diverted circulate would re-enter the State downstream. The extra water will be part of the Yamuna downstream of the Wazirabad barrage, circulate by the 22-km Delhi stretch as much as Okhla, after which be launched into the Agra Canal for irrigation use in Uttar Pradesh.

“The DPR of the mission will probably be accomplished by October, after which we can have readability on the mode of transport and the precise price,” an official instructed The Hindu.

The development of the pipeline or canal community is predicted to take round three years. Land acquisition, if required, could lengthen the timeline.

An earlier proposal to convey Ganga water to flush pollution within the Yamuna was shelved final yr following objections from Uttar Pradesh.

Ballot promise

Cleansing the Yamuna was a key electoral promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi forward of the Delhi Meeting election, which the BJP gained after 27 years. The occasion reiterated its deal with the river through the marketing campaign.

The Yamuna additionally holds non secular significance for migrants from japanese Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, a lot of whom observe Chhath Puja on its banks.

Specialists and courts have lengthy emphasised the necessity to increase the river’s circulate in Delhi. In a 2015 order, the Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal (NGT) referred to as for measures to make sure ample environmental circulate all year long beneath its “Maily se Nirmal Yamuna” plan.

A research by the Nationwide Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, really useful a minimal circulate of 23 cubic metres per second downstream of the Hathnikund barrage. At current, the circulate is about 10 cumecs, leaving a deficit of 13 cumecs.

Printed – June 18, 2026 11:56 pm IST