Navy Boat brought into Yamuna on Delhi LG's initiative makes its first trip between Signature Bridge, ITO Barrage

New Delhi [India], June 24 : In a historic first, Indian Navy on Saturday successfully carried out a Navigability Assessment of Yamuna in Delhi, by taking the Work Boat that it had recently brought from Kochi, from Signature Bridge to ITO Barrage, a distance of 11km, an official statement said.

Such trials were earlier planned and contemplated but could never be taken to a conclusion due to various problems associated with Yamuna like lack of required depth, floating debris in the water and the unhygienic bank conditions.

The Boat has been brought to Delhi by the Naval Authorities on the initiative of the LG, who has been actively monitoring the Rejuvenation of Yamuna as the Chairman of the NGT-appointed HLC, the statement added.

Delhi LG VK Saxena, in his efforts at cleaning the Yamuna, has often stressed the common citizen's participation in the same and has ensured several initiatives to bring the residents of Delhi closer to the river. It is in this direction that using Yamuna, in limited stretches, as a mode of transportation with boats plying in it, was envisioned, the statement further said.

After successfully completing the physical cleaning of the river and its floodplains between Signature Bridge and ITO Barrage, and a personal inspection thereof, the LG decided to undertake this venture by officially requisitioning a Navy Boat.

The Navy Work Boat which is 11m long with a draft of 1.7m, displacement of about 12 Tons, cruises at a speed of 14 Knots and has a capacity of 35 passengers. It was brought by Road from Kochi on June 3, 2023, and moored at Signature Bridge Jetty, the statement said.

Thereafter, a detailed hydrographic survey was carried out by the special Naval team from Karwar and Dehradun.

The survey revealed that in certain patches, depth of the river was less than the required 1.7m.

Thereafter, locally available amphibious desilting equipment were deployed for carrying out the desilting of the identified patches and a channel of approx 30 m width was created by June 20.

The channel was further given a proper finish by June 22.

Accordingly in the wee hours of June 24, the trial run was undertaken.

Initially, the trial run was planned only on a three km stretch between Signature Bridge and Boat Club.

However, since the conditions were suitable even beyond that, in a bold on-the-spot decision, it was decided to exploit the prevailing conditions and the motivation of initial success to take the Boat upto ITO Barrage.

The Boat has been successfully moored at a special Jetty created for it at ITO Barrage. It will continue to operate from there carrying out further detailed Navigability trials in Yamuna so as to earmark proper channels on which boats carrying passengers and goods could successfully run in the near future, the statement added.