Bench seeks official action-taken report before July 27
The Madras High Court Bench here on Friday expanded the scope of a public interest litigation petition, taken up suo motu on the basis of a civic photo feature published in the Madurai edition of The Hindu on June 25 and sought a report from the Assistant Director of Panchayats by July 27 on the steps taken by him to keep all local bodies in the district clean and hygienic.
A Division Bench of Justices R. Banumathi and B. Rajendran included the Collector and the Superintending Engineer of Public Works Department also as parties to the case.
The photo feature had covered a wide range of civic issues, including choking of the Vaigai river with plastic waste, pathetic condition of a canal that connects Melamadai and Sadasiva Nagar and overflowing trash near Pandikovil here.
It also captured the burning of waste on open grounds in the Samayanallur panchayat. The panchayat president, who was present in the court, told the judges that some unknown individuals were in the habit of dumping garbage and burning it. Some more photographs were produced before the court to show that garbage being brought in trucks and dumped in the open grounds.
While perusing the photos, Mr. Justice Rajendran found that the truck in the picture was a government-owned vehicle. Hence, he asked the government counsel to take necessary action.
The Block Development Officer of Samayanallur and the Assistant Director of Panchayats also appeared before the court and assured to take necessary steps to prevent such occurrences.
“You see, many people are dying due to dengue in the southern districts. It all happens only because of unhygienic conditions. So, you have to clear this at the earliest. You should also file a report as to the steps taken for preventing such occurrences in the future. We’ll go through the report and pass final orders on July 27,” Ms. Justice Banumathi told the officials.
Earlier, G.R. Swaminathan, counsel for the Madurai Municipal Corporation, said that two of the four pictures in the photo feature were taken within the territorial limits of the Corporation. Immediately after the publication, the local body cleaned up the area near Pandikovil and also cleared the garbage dumped in the canal running between Melamadai and Sadasiva Nagar.
He also said that the places would be cleaned on a daily basis. In so far as dumping of plastic waste in the Vaigai was concerned, he said that it was up to the Public Works Department to remove it. “When residents dump garbage in the Vaigai, we cannot help. Only the PWD has to act. But, we take full responsibility with regard to the places near Pandikovil as well as the Melamadai canal.”
Keywords: civic issue, suo motu, garbage collection, plastic waste, River Vaigai, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board
It is a culture of Indians. Cleaning to them means throwing their dirt on the neighbours court or on the road or somewhere away from their compound.
You can see this every morning. The dirt of every house is cleaned every morning and deposited on the road or the drain in front.
So also with panchayats. Panagudy, Tirunelvei district, dumps all its garbage on the road leading to Pushpavanam from the four lane by pass road and also on the pond adjoining it. It then gets accumulated at the pond and settles down when the rain comes.Until then the stench and dust emenating from it keep polluting the surrounding and no one seems to care about it.
Congrats, Like this I would like to submit one more problem, As an individual I am not in a position to take this problem to the court, the reason is obvious. So I kindly request Hindu to take the necessary action. The problem is with the Bus Shelters in Chennai and other cities. There are hundreds of Bus Shelters in Chennai city limit which is either managed by Corportaion or MTC, but they are completely filled with advertisements. There is no information about what is the bus stop name, which buses will stop at this point, Chennai city Routemap and guidance nothing is there. Only advertisements and advertisements only. People are saying that both the Corporation and MTC are earning revenue for this, It seems to be riduclous for me, What is the point for earning by using these public utilities. These are only to serve the people, Corporation is not an Pvt limited company, I think many people will understand the problem. Again I request Hindu to publish an article in this regard.
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