New Delhi, Oct 30 Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday proposed a swimming competition with BJP MP Manoj Tiwari in the Yamuna, a day after the Delhi leader took a dip in the river and claimed its pollution load had halved in a year.
In a post on X in Hindi, Rijiju wrote, “Manoj ji, don’t you think that a swimming competition could be held between the two of us in the much better water of Yamuna ji?”
Tiwari, the MP from North East Delhi, accepted the challenge in a reply on the microblogging platform.
“Thanx Kiren Bhai.. we will do it.. Anyway, it is not easy to beat you in swimming.. but it would be wonderful to try to win against you in swimming in Delhi’s new and clean Yamuna.. Let’s fix the date,” he said.
On Thursday, Tiwari took a dip in the river at Sonia Vihar and also claimed that he drank its water (“aachman”). He claimed the Yamuna’s pollution load had halved in the past year because of cleaning work undertaken by the Rekha Gupta government, and asserted that people could celebrate Chhath Puja in the river again.
Days ago, Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched 43 projects worth Rs 8,941 crore to clean the Yamuna and pledged to clean the stretch of the river in Delhi by May 2029.
The Opposition AAP dismissed Tiwari’s claims. Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said the 26-km stretch between Palla and Wazirabad had “always been comparatively clean” and was cleaner during the AAP government, even according to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee reports.
Bharadwaj also invited Tiwari and Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Verma to drink water at Kalindi Kunj ghat near the Okhla barrage, alleging that they had “run away from the challenge” last year too.
The Yamuna flows for around 52 km through Delhi and gets increasingly polluted downstream. The 22-km stretch between Wazirabad and Okhla is said to be the most polluted and the focal point of multiple policy efforts.
Verma had earlier said it would take around two-and-a-half to three years for the river to be completely clean, adding that “we have never claimed that the Yamuna has been completely cleaned”.
The minister had said the upper stream between Palla and Wazirabad had been cleaned, while work was underway between Wazirabad and Kalindi Kunj.
(PTI News)
