High Court directs MCDs to clean up 2 more colonies

After it had directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation to clean up Lajpat Nagar and maintain it, the Delhi high court on Wednesday told the other two civic bodies to ensure proper cleanliness in a colony each under their jurisdiction.

A Bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the east Delhi municipal body to clean up <g data-gr-id="23">Patparganj,</g> while north MCD was told to take up the western extension area (WEA) of Karol Bagh. The court directed the civic bodies to keep clean the two areas and to file a status report with pictures on the next date of hearing on September 23.

It said these areas would be inspected to see how they are being maintained. During the hearing, south MCD submitted a status report with pictures indicating that it has cleaned up Lajpat Nagar and said the bench can inspect the area to see the results. After perusing the report and pictures, the bench said that some work has been done and added that it would visit the area to see the results in reality.

However, the PIL petitioner, NGO Nyaya Bhoomi, told the court that sewage water was going into the residences in Lajpat Nagar during heavy rains.

The NGO, represented by B B Sharan has alleged that government agencies have failed to improve the conditions in the city despite the Supreme Court’s observation in 1996 that the “historical city of Delhi, the capital of India, is one of the most polluted cities in the world”.

The court had on March 18 directed SDMC and other civic bodies to start cleaning the entire Lajpat Nagar from the next day and maintain it that way as a “test” of their “efficiency and ability” to keep the city clean. The high court had issued the direction to see if the civic bodies were “capable” of maintaining cleanliness in a model area “or else we will disband the corporations”.