Lucknow, July 8 -- Water hyacinth and solid waste have found a way to pollute large stretches of the Gomti seemingly after every clean-up drive. Even on Monday, thick clusters of the invasive plant covered the river's surface near Hanuman Setu. "The river's natural flow is restricted by temporary dams and earth embankments, turning it into a stagnant water body. Combined with untreated sewage, this accelerates hyacinth growth," said environmental expert Dr. Venkatesh Dutta. Amid concerns over the river's deteriorating health, divisional commissioner Roshan Jacob has directed officials concerned to take urgent measures to revive the Gomti. Top officials, including LDA vice chairman Prathamesh Kumar and municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar, attended Monday's meeting. In the meeting, Jal Nigam officials said out of 32 drains that discharge their waste into the Gomti, 26 had been tapped. Of the 730 MLD (million litres per day) of wastewater flowing into the river, 600 MLD was treated, they said. Jacob instructed them to ensure that even the remaining drains were tapped and that only treated water was released into the river. She also directed the Municipal Corporation to install grills at all drain outfalls to prevent solid waste from entering the river. Jacob instructed LMC to ensure regular clean-up of floating waste and take steps to collect cow dung from Kaithal Colony and deliver it to the biogas plant under construction in Vasant Kunj Yojana. Reviewing the progress on the Kukrail River, she noted that dredging on five km had been completed. She directed LMC and LDA to conduct plantation drives along the cleaned stretch under the Pavitra Dhara programme. To this, the municipal commissioner said LMC currently had limited manpower and machinery to tackle the issue effectively. "We are working on a revised action plan as instructed by the divisional commissioner," he said. About the recurring hyacinth problem, LMC chief mechanical engineer Manoj Prabhat acknowledged that the shortage of manpower was hindering the civic body's efforts. "In some areas, only two workers manage every two kilometres, which is inadequate against the fast-spreading hyacinth." Another LMC official said, "Despite spending lakhs on cleaning, the results are negligible because polluted drains remain untapped." The Gomti covers a stretch of 30 km in Lucknow....