Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Saturday accused Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena of claiming credit for the efforts of the Kejriwal government in cleaning the Yamuna river, dismissing the LG's claims as "misleading and baseless." There was no immediate response from the LG's office.

Bhardwaj's statement came a day after the LG Secretariat issued a press release stating that the biological oxygen demand (BOD) levels in the Najafgarh drain, which accounts for approximately 70 per cent of wastewater discharge into the Yamuna, had decreased by 33 per cent compared to the previous year.

The reduction was attributed to the intervention of a high-level committee headed by Saxena.

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), an important parameter to assess water quality, is the amount of oxygen required by aerobic microorganisms to decompose organic material present in a water body.

A BOD level of fewer than 3 milligrams per litre is considered good.

Challenging Saxena to provide evidence of any new projects or initiatives he had initiated before taking credit for the government's work, Bhardwaj emphasised that the progress in cleaning the Yamuna was a result of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's six-point action plan announced in November 2021.

He dismissed the claims made by the LG's office as baseless and misleading, pointing out that the LG does not have the financial authority to approve projects in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) or the Irrigation and Flood Control Department (IFC).

Bhardwaj also accused the LG office of falsely presenting minutes of meetings and presentations from the DJB and IFC, deceptively claiming them as the sole achievements of the LG.

The water minister also highlighted the achievements of the DJB, such as connecting jhuggi-jhopri clusters to the sewer network, tapping and diverting drains, desilting trunk sewers, providing house service connections, and upgrading sewage treatment plants.

According to the Constitution, matters related to land, law and order, and police fall under the jurisdiction of the LG, while others come under the purview of the Delhi government.

The Supreme Court recently issued an order placing the services department under the Delhi government, but the Centre later issued an ordinance granting the LG control over the bureaucracy in the national capital.

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