The babus who recently visited Ahmedabad on June 5-6 to see if the “Sabarmati riverfront model” could be replicated for restoration of the Yamuna in Delhi had mixed reactions. “Once the Sabarmati was dry. Now it has water — lots of it. There is hardly any sewage in it,” beamed one such Delhi government official who was a part of the team.

And when asked how was the Sabarmati revived? “They did not allow sewage into the river. They trapped everything at both ends, treated and released it only outside the city limits,” came a simplistic response.

While the Delhi babus, on their return, are busy preparing a report on how to revive the dead Yamuna, experts say the Rs. 1,250-crore Sabarmati project is no example to replicate in Delhi.

Even at least two of the seven officials who visited Ahmedabad find faults with the Sabarmati model but requested not to be named.

Independent experts are not at all impressed.