Delhi govt gets ‘Watermaster’ dredger and hopper barges to clean Najafgarh drain, the biggest contributor to Yamuna pollution

Delhi govt gets imported dredger to clean Najafgarh drain
Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh inaugurating the dredger, images via his X handle

The Delhi government has started work on cleaning the silt in the Najafgarh drain with an imported dredger from Finland, Minister for Irrigation and Flood Control Parvesh Sahib Singh informed. The Minister stated that the dredger, a Watermaster Amphibious Multipurpose dredger, along with three ‘hopper’ barges, will start working in the Najafgarh drain, which accounts for nearly 70% of the total pollution load entering the Yamuna.

The dredger can remove silt that has been deposited for decades, he added.

The dredger is equipped with four stabilisers, a flexible excavator arm that can move 180 degrees, and a 600-litre backhoe bucket, which enable it to move seamlessly between land and water, the Indian Express reported. The machine has a sludge pumping capacity of 600 cubic metres per hour, and a discharge distance range of up to 1.5 km.

The dredger costs around 8 crores, and the three hopper barges have cost around 5.5 crores. Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh has informed that to clean the Yamuna, the Najafgarh drain has to be cleaned first, since it is the biggest contributor. He added that the dredger and the hoppers together are the best available technology to achieve this target.

The barges are to assist with cleaning floating materials and hyacinth from the water. Each barge has a capacity of 12 cubic metres.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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