Pollution penalties for CETPs jumped 88-fold to ₹4.43 crore in 2025-26, an RTI reply showed. Total fines reached ₹5.33 crore since 2023-24. Activist Amit Gupta said, "imposing penalties alone would not revive the Yamuna unless treatment plants were repaired." Meanwhile, the Delhi Jal Board also got heavy fines for sewage issues.
The fines imposed on CETPs rose from ₹5 lakh in 2024-25 to ₹4.42 crore in 2025-26, according to an RTI reply. The cumulative environmental compensation imposed on these industrial effluent treatment plants between 2023-24 and 2025-26 stood at ₹5.33 crore, the RTI reply revealed. Environmental activist Amit Gupta had filed an RTI seeking information on environmental compensation charges imposed on CETPs.
The information also showed that separate penalties of ₹22.95 crore were imposed on the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and domestic sewage treatment plants (STPs) through 17 orders.
Of this, ₹18.54 crore was imposed on DJB in February 2025 for failure to provide a sewerage network. Another ₹2.89 crore was imposed on 15 STPs in April 2026, while DJB was penalised ₹1.50 crore in May 2026 over the functioning of the Smriti Van sewage treatment plant in Vasant Kunj.
The RTI reply also revealed that no funds had been allocated to DPCC for cleaning the Yamuna.
Gupta said imposing penalties alone would not revive the Yamuna unless treatment plants were repaired and held accountable for violations.