Delhi HC to continue hearing on Kushak nallah cleaning issue

The Delhi High Court will today continue the hearing on a plea seeking cleaning of Kushak drain in the national capital. The petition was filed after the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government and other civic agencies had disregarded court orders to clean it by June.

In the previous hearing, the Court had pulled up the PWD over blockage and garbage in the Kushak nallah.

The High Court also asked names of the PWD officials in charge of cleaning the drains from INA to Yamuna River.

The Court warned it would jail the officials for misleading the court.

The court has been looking into the cleaning of drains for the past five years, but status reports given to it have been incorrect and misleading.

On August 31, 2016, the High Court rapped the PWD and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) over water-logging on major roads and crippling of traffic movement in large parts of the national capital.

Justice B.D. Ahmed, while hearing a matter relating to water logging of the South Extension area of South Delhi, observed, "There is no justification for clogged drains. We cannot tolerate this year after year. Even the road in front of the Vice-President's residence was waterlogged."

The court further pointed out that the water logging due to rainfall in several areas could become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, leading to spate in diseases like dengue and chikungunya.