The activist Supreme Court lawyer, M. C. Mehta, has filed a case on behalf of the residents of Delhi to ensure that the Yamuna is kept clean. In response, the Court issued directives from time to time, requiring the authorities to set up sewage treatment plants, since the population of the capital has increased to 9.4 million in 1991. The river is reasonably clean until it enters Delhi where 18 major drains empty waste into it. Mehta believes that the Ganga Action Plan has failed. There is no political will to clean up the environment.
Politicians are close to industrialists and their parties are funded by industrialists.
The Supreme Court has emerged as the saviour of the environment. Darryl D'Monte is President of the Indian Federation of Environmental Journalists.