'focus less on boats, more on vegetation to revive yamuna'

New Delhi, April 10 -- Reviving the Yamuna requires fewer plans for running motor boats in the river, and more focus on restoring its floodplains with native vegetation, experts said at a conference titled Citizens Dialogue for the Rejuvenation of the River Yamuna on Wednesday.

The conference, organised by citizen-led environmental group Green Circle of Delhi, brought together former National Green Tribunal (NGT) chairperson justice Swatanter Kumar, former Delhi University vice-chancellor Deepak Pental, and several environmental experts.

Calling the Yamuna an "open sewer," justice Kumar said the river's current condition stemmed from a lack of political will and enforcement. "It stinks. Calling it a drain is a better expression than calli...