Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced a scheme under which people in Delhi's unauthori🔯sed colonies and villages can get their septic tanks cleaned free of cost.
The scheme will benefit around 45 lakh people in the national capital and will be a huge step towards curbing sewer death🅺s and cleaning the Yamuna river, he said.
There are around 1,800 unauthorised colonies in Delhi, of which 430 have sewer lines. In rest of the colonies, households have septic tanks and private pa🍸rties charge hefty fees to clean them.
"Many times pe🌠ople die while cleaning these septic tanks as private companies do not follow the required safety standards," he said.
Such contractors or private෴ companies work without licences and dump the septage in drains and vacant plots, contaminating the Yamuna river and groundwater, Kejriwal said.
The Delhi🎐 Jal Board (DJB) will get the septic tanks cleaned for free, he said.
He said the💜 government will hire an agency to clean the se😼ptic tanks in unauthorised colonies and a tender will be floated within a month.
DJB trucks will collect the septage from these septic tanks and taꦅke it to sewage treatment plants.
Kejriwal said any p🔯erson can put in a req🐷uest to get the septic tank cleaned by calling a phone number.
The DJB in a statement said 80 vehicles will be hired for collection, transportation🎐 and disposal of septage. Around 8 lakh litres of septage will be collected daily.
