Where have dustbins gone from Delhi streets, HC asks

Where have all the dustbins gone from city's streets, the Delhi High Court asked the capital's municipal corporations and directed them to file a detailed response to a petition on this.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva took strong note of "disappearance of dustbins" and asked municipal corporations to apprise it in four weeks of the steps taken to install dustbins in all areas in the capital.

The court posted the matter for hearing for March 4.

The petition was filed by Sharad Tiwari and Sanjeev Agnihotri, who alleged that dustbins from their locality were recently removed and this was happening all over the city.

The plea has asked the court to direct the civic bodies to provide bins on each street of the capital. It has said 70 percent of the trucks carrying garbage have broken down and badly damaged.

The court earlier asked the civic agencies to state the number of trucks used for removing garbage from dustbins and whether there was a specific duty cycle for collection and removal of waste.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) in its affidavit said it was carrying out the work related to municipal solid waste management in its area.

It said it has started door-to-door collection of garbage in its area with the concept of "reduce, recycle and reuse". At present, 11 auto tipper trucks and four big mechanical compactors are being deployed for door-to-door garbage collection.

The NDMC stated that there are sufficient numbers of pucca masonry bins in its area.

"Recently, 1,275 new garbage iron trolleys of 1,100 litre capacity have been placed in various locations," the affidavit stated.

There is regular sanitation drive under 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' in NDMC area, regular washing and cleaning of garbage iron trolleys, regular organisation of interactive sessions or meetings with resident welfare association, said the affidavit.