New Delhi, May 29 (IANS): To improve the water quality of Yamuna river, the Delhi Jal Board on Wednesday accorded approval for the construction of India's largest sewage treatment plant at Okhla at a total cost of Rs 1,161 crore.

The STP, with a capacity of 564 million litres a day (MLD), will be the largest wastewater treatment plant in India, the DJB said.

The Board also said the project will have a huge positive impact on the quality of water in the Yamuna.

"The new STP will remove 41,200 kgs per day of organic pollutant load and 61,600 kgs per day of solid load on the Yamuna," it said.

The approval was accorded by the DJB in its 146th meeting under the chairmanship of Delhi Chief Minister and DJB Chairman Arvind Kejriwal.

"It will treat sewage to stringent effluent parameters of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS)

It will be a state-of-the-art, fully automated plant with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system.

"Moreover, it will be an integrated plant which will not only treat sewage but will also have complete sludge management facility so that sludge generated at the plant can be handled in an environment-friendly manner," it said.

Sludge management has also been included in the scope of the work of this project. It will cater to around 40 lakh residents of Delhi, the DJB said.

"It will cater to the areas of Chandni Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Daryaganj, NDMC areas, Lodhi Colony, Nizamuddin, Okhla, Badarpur, Kalkaji, Malviya Nagar, Katwaria Sarai, Lajpat Nagar, Greater Kailash and South Delhi - from Munirka to Badarpur," it added.