Civic bodies appear to have no respect for PM: HC on garbage

The Delhi High Court today observed that the municipal bodies appear to have no respect for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan on October 2 as they are allowing garbage to accumulate in the open in several parts of Dwarka here.
"We find garbage accumulating in the open," a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul remarked after perusing pictures submitted by the civic bodies as well as the petitioner, Ebbani Aggarwal, a law student and resident of Dwarka.
"It appears they do not even respect their Prime Minister. Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan was started by him on October 2," the bench said.

The court went on to direct the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to regularly clean the areas where garbage is accumulating and also to take pictures before and after undertaking the exercise.
It also directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to grant permission to SDMC to construct a closed 'dhalao' (garbage dump) in Dwarka for dumping the waste generated there so that the municipal body can start the construction work immediately.
The bench made it clear that if the area is not cleaned regularly, the Sanitary Superintendent of Najafgarh zone "will be held personally responsible".

It, meanwhile, directed Delhi Metro and DDA to give a joint signed statement on who owns the land beneath the metro tracks.

The court sought the information after DMRC said that land below the tracks belongs to DDA and the land-owning authority said that it belongs to the metro.
The court will now hear the matter on November 12.
During the proceedings, SDMC contended that the open areas where garbage is accumulating, as per the pictures, are open 'dhalaos' from where rubbish is regularly removed and submitted that a closed dhalao needs to be constructed in the area.
The court, however, was of the view that "only garbage was visible" and queried "where are the people whose job it is to clear the rubbish?"

"Why don't you take action against them (safai karamcharis) if they are not doing their job?" the court asked SDMC.
"It's time you start taking action," it added.