HC seeks report from north civic body's on rag-picker's death

Observing there is more garbage than land in the national capital, the Delhi High Court on Friday sought a report from North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on the death of a rag-picker.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar asked the civic body to file report on the death of the rag-picker who died recently when he was electrocuted at a garbage heap where a live wire had fallen in north Delhi.

According to a media report, the 27-year-old ragpicker got electrocuted while collecting garbage in Jahangirpuri on Wednesday morning. The ragpicker could not see a live wire fallen in the garbage heap after rain on Tuesday night and touched it.

The court also sought report from Delhi Development Authority in connection with a nine-year-old boy who died four month ago who fell into a pit allegedly dug up by DDA and listed the matter for June 27.

On June 21, the Delhi High Court slammed the national capital's municipal bodies over their failure to remove garbage from the city roads and dubbed their claims on trash removal as an "eyewash."

The high court took suo motu cognisance of ABP news channel's report on garbage clearance in areas under EDMC jurisdiction.

It had asked the channel to conduct random inspection on garbage removal and disposal in Delhi and submit a report.

The court is also hearing public interest litigations that the government and civic agencies had not taken preventive steps against vector-borne diseases like chikungunya and dengue.

The government and civic bodies, however, said they have taken all steps to prevent these diseases.

--IANS

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