The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the city government and the municipal bodies here about the steps taken to ensure garbage disposal, implementation of solid waste by-laws and prevention of vector-borne diseases.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar also directed the authorities to widely publicise the by-laws and other norms to ensure cleanliness in the city in the wake of monsoon.
The directions came during the hearing of a petition by advocate Arpit Bhargava, seeking directions to the authorities to take steps to stop the outbreak of vector-borne diseases in the city.
Waterlogging
In a separate case, the Bench also asked the State government and the civic bodies about the steps taken to prevent the recurring problem of waterlogging in Delhi during the rains.
The court referred to recent news reports on waterlogged roads that were disrupting traffic across the city.
“It is a shocking state of affairs... Why is it happening year after year?,” the Bench said, adding that the authorities were “not taking a macro view of the problem and there was only a knee-jerk reaction each time”.
The court also asked the Chief Secretary of Delhi to convene a meeting of senior officials of the State government, Public Works Department, the Centre, the three municipal corporations and the Delhi Jal Board to ascertain the steps taken to prevent waterlogging so far.
The court also asked the panel to identify the spots where waterlogging occurs repeatedly and suggested remedial measures and timeline for implementation.
The court said the fallout of waterlogging was not only the loss of man-hours, with people unable to reach their destinations on time, but idling engines of vehicular traffic also caused air pollution in the city.
