Delhi: Verma says FIRs may follow Yamuna cleanup spending review

Deputy Chief Minister Parvesh Verma said the Delhi government may file FIRs after a committee reviews Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) findings on alleged irregularities in earlier Yamuna cleanup spending.

During a visit to Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Riverfront on Monday, Verma said one CAG report had flagged spending of hundreds of crores on sewage treatment plants that either did not operate or worked below capacity. A second CAG report on Delhi Jal Board expenditure is awaited, he said.

Verma said the government had sent the findings to a committee and would decide on FIRs after it submits its report.

He said pollution control and riverfront development would proceed together. The Delhi Jal Board has begun building and upgrading sewage treatment plants, he said, and the government aims to close the city’s sewage-treatment capacity gap within two years. It also plans to extend sewer connections to households without them within 18 months.

The government has approved ₹60 crore for a modern Chhath ghat at Kalindi Kunj, which Verma said it aims to complete within a year. The plan includes facilities for washermen, intended to prevent untreated runoff from reaching the river, as well as parks, cycling tracks, ghats and sports grounds.

The proposals also sit alongside new floodplain zones in the Master Plan 2047.