Describing her first year in office as one devoted to fixing “legacy issues”, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday said her government focused on cleaning the Yamuna, improving civic infrastructure and tackling air pollution.
Releasing a ‘report card’ to mark her government’s one year in office, Ms. Gupta said, “We have done more work on legacy issues in one year than the previous [AAP] government did in 10 years. Our first year has not been about announcements, but about visible results on the ground.” The report outlines initiatives in sanitation, health, education, infrastructure, pollution control and governance reforms.
Ms. Gupta said the government approved the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, offering health coverage of up to ₹10 lakh per family. Terming water and sewage as “basic needs”, the Chief Minister said 13 km of transmission pipelines were replaced and 172 km of new or upgraded water pipelines were laid in the past year. Sewer lines will now be extended to unauthorised colonies to prevent untreated waste from flowing into the Yamuna, Ms. Gupta said.
Describing the Yamuna’s condition as the result of years of neglect, Ms. Gupta said 28 of 37 sewage treatment plants (STPs) found below standards have been upgraded and work on the remaining nine is under way. “We are increasing sewage treatment capacity and moving beyond only mega plants,” she said.
