Thick foam was seen floating on the Yamuna at Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj a day after BJP MP Manoj Tiwari took a dip in the river and said a substantial portion of it had been cleaned ahead of Chhath Puja. The visuals have renewed questions over the condition of the river’s downstream stretch and whether it is safe for bathing and religious rituals.
The foam was visible along the banks of the river on Friday morning, according to a report by The Indian Express. The report cited visuals from Kalindi Kunj, where the Yamuna’s water was covered by a thick layer of foam. The condition makes the stretch unsuitable for a dip or ritual activities, particularly as devotees prepare for Chhath Puja.
A day earlier, Tiwari had taken a bath and performed aachman, or ritualistic sipping of water, along the Yamuna near Sonia Vihar in north-east Delhi. He said the river had become cleaner and invited people to celebrate Chhath Puja there. He also cited the presence of migratory birds and said that half of the Yamuna had been cleaned in the one-and-a-half years since the BJP came to power in Delhi.
Tiwari said the remaining work would be completed over the next three years. He also said the exercise was intended to communicate that the government’s efforts had improved the river rather than to shame former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Union minister Kiren Rijiju later backed Tiwari’s claim in a post on X and suggested that the two could hold a swimming competition in the river.
The claims followed Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s launch of 43 projects worth Rs 8,941 crore aimed at cleaning the Yamuna. Shah has pledged that the Delhi stretch of the river will be cleaned by May 2029. The Delhi BJP has also said its government achieved in two years what previous Congress and AAP governments failed to accomplish over 27 years.
The location and extent of the improvement have become a point of dispute between the BJP and the AAP. AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj said the 26-km stretch between Palla and Wazirabad had historically been relatively cleaner. He alleged that the Yamuna becomes significantly more polluted downstream, particularly after the Najafgarh drain enters the river near the Signature Bridge, and challenged Tiwari and Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Verma to drink water at the Kalindi Kunj ghat near the Okhla barrage.
The Yamuna runs for approximately 52 km through Delhi. The 22-km section between Wazirabad and Okhla is regarded as the heavily polluted portion and has remained the focus of repeated restoration efforts. Parvesh Verma has said that the upstream stretch between Palla and Wazirabad has been cleaned, while work is continuing between Wazirabad and Kalindi Kunj. He has also said that complete cleaning of the river would take around two-and-a-half to three years and that the government had not claimed the entire river was already clean.
The latest visuals place the focus on the gap between improvements in selected upstream sections and conditions downstream, where the river continues to receive polluted flows. The government’s stated deadline for cleaning the Delhi stretch remains May 2029, while work on the Wazirabad–Kalindi Kunj section is continuing.
