Union Home Minister Amit Shah has set 2029 as the target for achieving a clean Yamuna, linking the deadline to the Kishau Multipurpose Project agreement signed by six states. The announcement was made during a meeting chaired by Shah in connection with the agreement, which involves Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Shah said the river’s environmental flow had not been accounted for when Yamuna water was allocated among states. Environmental flow refers to the minimum water flow needed to sustain a river’s ecological functions. According to his remarks, the available water was distributed among states without leaving a dedicated share for the river itself.
The home minister said the Kishau project would make 25 per cent additional water available, benefiting both Delhi and the Yamuna. He also said the project could support environmental protection and improve water availability for drinking, agriculture, development and industrial use.
The meeting was attended by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil also participated in the agreement process, according to Shah’s remarks reported by Live Hindustan – NCR.
Shah described the agreement as a significant step for the Yamuna basin and said all six states had agreed to it. He connected the Yamuna’s restoration with the wider clean-Ganga programme, noting that the Yamuna meets the Ganga at Prayagraj. He said the objective of a clean Ganga would remain incomplete without achieving a clean Yamuna.
The Kishau project has been declared a national project by the Union government. Shah said the Centre would bear approximately 90 per cent of its financial burden, while the participating states would contribute the remaining 10 per cent in accordance with the 1994 agreement. He also said the Centre would try to address concerns raised by Uttarakhand and assist the state with future financial obligations arising from the project.
The project involves construction of a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam on the Tons river, which flows along the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh boundary. The reservoir is expected to have a storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic metres. Shah said the project would irrigate 97,000 hectares of land and generate 1,476 million units of hydropower after completion.
The announcement places Delhi at the centre of a water and river-management agreement involving multiple states. However, the 2029 target is an official commitment rather than evidence that the Yamuna has already met defined cleanliness or ecological standards. The next steps will depend on the project’s implementation, financing, construction and coordination among the participating governments.
