The Delhi government on Tuesday allocated Rs 500 crore to set up 40 decentralised sewage treatment plants to ensure that only treated water enters the Yamuna river.

An additional Rs 500 crore has been allocated for repairing and upgrading existing sewage treatment plants and Rs 250 crore has been earmarked for replacing old sewer lines, The Indian Express reported.

The announcements were part of the Delhi’s government’s budget for 2025-’26 that Chief Minister Rekha Gupta presented. This was the first budget in the capital city under a Bharatiya Janata Party government in 26 years.

Gupta announced a total budgetary allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore, as against Rs 76,000 crore last year. Central grants for development works in Delhi increased from Rs 4,391 crore to Rs 11,469 crore – an increase of over 161%, The Indian Express reported.

Yamuna river cleaning

The chief minister on Tuesday accused previous governments in Delhi of adopting a negligent attitude, due to which they “neither quenched Delhi’s thirst, nor solved the water crisis, instead turning the Yamuna river into a gutter”.

Gupta said that for the BJP, the Yamuna was not just a river but “our cultural and historical heritage”.

During the tenure of the previous Aam Aadmi Party government, the BJP frequently criticised it for failing to curb pollution in the Yamuna. The Aam Aadmi Party, on its part, alleged that the governments in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Haryana were responsible for polluting the river.

Tihar jail to be relocated

Gupta also announced plans to move the Tihar jail to the outskirts of Delhi and allocated Rs 10 crore for survey and consultancy services for this purpose, PTI reported.

The government is reportedly mulling the relocation due to safety concerns, as the jail is close to residential areas.

The Tihar jail, set up in 1958, is one of the country’s largest prison complexes. It comprises nine central prisons that are spread over 400 acres.

‘Make Economic Survey public,’ says AAP

Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Chief Minister Atishi alleged that the BJP government in Delhi had presented a “hawa hawai budget”, or a budget that is vague and lacks substance.

“There is no economic basis for the ‘Rs 1 lakh crore budget’, otherwise why would there be a need to hide the Economic Survey?” Atishi asked. “I challenge Rekha Gupta ji to make the Economic Survey figures public. The truth will be revealed.”

The AAP leader claimed that the education budget had been slashed by 20% because the BJP wanted to stymie government schools. She also claimed that the health budget had been cut by 13% “so that free treatment for the poor is stopped”.