India, March 13 -- The recent report of the parliamentary standing committee on water resources on the Yamuna comes against the backdrop of the Delhi government's promise to clean the river in three years and makes for sobering reading. The Yamuna clean-up is a major election promise of the BJP and the new government in Delhi has appeared earnest in implementing it; removal of garbage and silt from the river and the drains that feed it, the construction of more sewage treatment plants (STPs), even river cruises are part of the clean-up and revival operation.

The report (Review of Upper Yamuna River Cleaning Project Up to Delhi and River Bed Management) confirms what is known, that the Yamuna is mostly a dead river in its Delhi stretch. V...