Remove hanging wires & cables in Chandni Chowk or face action: HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday directed various agencies including North MCD, MTNL, BSES and mobile service providers to comply with the order of removing hanging wires and cables in the Chandni Chowk area here which is undergoing redevelopment.

The high court made it clear that non-compliance of the order will invite contempt action against the agencies.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said, "We direct all the agencies including North MCD, MTNL and BSES, etc to ensure compliance so that all hanging wires and cables are removed. All service providers shall ensure compliance failing which we will be compelled to initiate contempt action."

The bench passed the order following a plea by the counsel for nodal officers, appointed by the court earlier, that an inspection of redevelopment project of Chandni Chowk was carried out on December 28, 2020 and MTNL was not cooperating in the project and feeder pillars are yet to be shifted despite repeated directions in this regard.

Advocate Naushad Ahmed Khan, representing the Chief Nodal Officer and nodal officers of Shahjanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC), said hanging wires and cables are required to be removed and sought direction to various agencies to remove wires.

To this, the bench remarked, "if those hanging wires are removed, half of the Chandni Chowk will be left without electricity".