Delhi CM Rekha Gupta leads Yamuna ghat cleanliness drive at 28 locations
Synopsis
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta personally led a 28-ghat Yamuna cleanliness blitz on Sunday, mobilising 500-plus organisations and thousands of volunteers in a four-hour drive. It is the BJP-led Delhi government's most visible riverbank action yet — but with the Yamuna's pollution crisis decades in the making, the campaign's real measure will be what follows the photo-op.
Key Takeaways
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta led the Maa Yamuna Tat Swachhata Abhiyan on Sunday, 15 June 2025 .
The drive covered 28 ghats across Delhi, running from 6 am to 10 am IST .
Around 500 social, religious, educational, and voluntary organisations participated alongside thousands of residents.
Delhi BJP President Harsh Malhotra offered voluntary service at Yamuna Bank .
Gupta called the Yamuna cleanup a 'continuous public movement', not a one-day programme.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday, 15 June 2025, led the 'Maa Yamuna Tat Swachhata Abhiyan' — a large-scale Yamuna bank cleanliness drive spanning 28 ghats across the capital. Gupta joined thousands of volunteers at Geeta Colony Ghat, anchoring a campaign that brought together citizens, elected representatives, and civil society organisations in a collective effort to restore the river's banks.
Scale and Scope of the Campaign
The drive ran from 6 am to 10 am IST, with volunteers collecting litter simultaneously at dozens of prominent riverbank locations. These included Chilla Village Ghat, Nizamuddin Ghat, Nigam Bodh Ghat, Signature Bridge-Wazirabad Ghat, Kalindi Kunj Downstream, Hathi Ghat near ITO, Sarai Kale Khan, Wazirabad Yamuna Biodiversity Park, and several ITO upstream and downstream stretches, among others.
Around 500 social, religious, educational, and voluntary organisations participated alongside thousands of Delhi residents, making it one of the largest single-day citizen mobilisations for Yamuna conservation in recent memory.
Who Participated
Delhi government ministers, Members of Parliament, and senior public representatives were deployed across different ghat locations to maximise reach. Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Harsh Malhotra offered voluntary service at Yamuna Bank. The presence of elected officials at multiple sites was designed to signal institutional commitment beyond a symbolic one-day gesture.
What the Chief Minister Said
Chief Minister Gupta described the Yamuna as more than a waterbody. 'The cleanliness of the Yamuna is not a one-day programme but a continuous public movement that requires the participation of every section of society,' she said. Gupta emphasised that the river represents Delhi's cultural, religious, and environmental heritage, and that its protection is a shared civic duty — not solely a government responsibility.
Context and What Comes Next
The Yamuna's pollution crisis is longstanding. The river, which flows through 22 kilometres of Delhi, has been the subject of repeated cleanup pledges across successive state governments, with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court issuing multiple directives over the years. This campaign comes amid renewed political focus on the river under the current BJP-led Delhi government, which has positioned Yamuna restoration as a flagship environmental commitment. Whether the momentum from Sunday's drive translates into sustained policy action and measurable water-quality improvement will be the real test of intent.
Point of View
But optics and outcomes are different things. The Yamuna has absorbed cleanup pledges from every ruling party for three decades without meaningful water-quality recovery — the NGT has said as much repeatedly. A four-hour litter drive across 28 ghats, however well-attended, does not address the sewage outfalls and industrial discharge that account for the bulk of the river's pollution load. The real accountability question is not who showed up on Sunday morning, but what the government's sewage treatment capacity targets are and whether they are being met on schedule.
NationPress
10 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Maa Yamuna Tat Swachhata Abhiyan?
It is a large-scale Yamuna bank cleanliness drive organised by the Delhi government, covering 28 ghats across the capital. The campaign involved voluntary litter collection from 6 am to 10 am on Sunday, 15 June 2025, with participation from citizens, elected representatives, and over 500 organisations.
Where did Delhi CM Rekha Gupta participate in the drive?
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta joined volunteers at Geeta Colony Ghat for the cleanliness campaign. Ministers and Members of Parliament were simultaneously present at other ghat locations across Delhi.
Which ghats were covered in the Yamuna cleanliness campaign?
The drive spanned 28 ghats including Chilla Village Ghat, Nizamuddin Ghat, Nigam Bodh Ghat, Signature Bridge-Wazirabad Ghat, Kalindi Kunj Downstream, Hathi Ghat near ITO, Sarai Kale Khan, Wazirabad Yamuna Biodiversity Park, and multiple ITO upstream and downstream stretches, among others.
How many organisations participated in the Yamuna drive?
Around 500 social, religious, educational, and voluntary organisations participated alongside thousands of Delhi residents, making it one of the largest single-day citizen mobilisations for Yamuna conservation in recent memory.
Why does the Yamuna cleanup matter for Delhi?
The Yamuna flows through 22 kilometres of Delhi and has been severely polluted for decades, drawing repeated directives from the NGT and the Supreme Court. Chief Minister Gupta described the river as Delhi's cultural, religious, and environmental heritage, and the campaign aims to build sustained public participation alongside government-led remediation efforts.
