New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS): The Delhi Congress on Friday accused former Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal of stopping midway the work on building master drains along the Yamuna to divert untreated sewage of the city towards treatment plants in Vrindavan.

Reiterating the Congress’ guarantee of providing clean air and non-polluted Yamuna, former Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat called it “criminal negligence” on the part of the Kejriwal government and launched a blistering attack on the AAP leader for blaming others for pollution in the river.

He described both the Kejriwal government and the Central government as the “culprits” responsible for the poor state of the Yamuna in which untreated waste from 19 drains is falling, taking its pollution to 30 times more than the permissible limit.

“When I was the Union Water Resources Minister, it was decided that a master drains would be built along both banks of the Yamuna inside Delhi – over 22 km-long territory of the city. Around 27 drains of Delhi were to be diverted into the master drain,” he said, adding that he had personally coordinated the efforts for land acquisition.

Five-time MP Rawat said the master drain carrying untreated waste was to be linked to treatment plants so that clean water from these plants could be merged into the main stream near Vrindavan.

“We had started the master drain work from Najafgarh, but after the Congress it was not taken forward. This is a huge negligence,” he said, blaming both the AAP government and the Centre for the alleged laxity.

He slammed the nonchalant behaviour of the AAP government for the rise in ammonia level in the Yamuna to 7 ppm. “Almost 80 per cent of the Yamuna’ pollution is contributed by Delhi along the river’s 22-km stretch in the city,” he said.

The former Uttarakhand Chief Minister also cited a report of the Forest Research of Institute, Dehradun, pointing to a reduction in Delhi city’s green cover by 3.5 per cent.

Rawat also promised that the new Congress will tackle the problem of rising garbage mountains in Delhi.

Earlier in the day, the Indian Youth Congress staged a protest outside the residence of AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal over the issue of Yamuna pollution.

Indian Youth Congress chief Uday Bhanu Chib said, "I want to ask Kejriwal, who are you trying to buy with Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500? Delhi is the only state in India where schools are forced to close due to pollution..."