HC asks city govt on steps to ensure cleanliness & preventing dengue in Delhi

The Delhi High Court today asked the Aam Aadmi Party government and the municipal bodies here about the steps taken to ensure garbage disposal, implementation of solid waste by-laws and prevention of vector-borne diseases.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar also directed the authorities to widely publicise the by-laws and other norms to ensure cleanliness in the city in the wake of the monsoon rains.

The oral directions by the bench came during the hearing of a PIL by advocate Arpit Bhargava seeking directions to the authorities to take steps to stop the outbreak of vector-borne diseases, like dengue and chikungunya, in the national capital.

The court took up the issue today after taking cognisance of a news report which said that garbage was being dumped in a vacant plot of land in Rohini area of Northwest Delhi.

During the hearing, the Delhi Development Authority told the bench that while it owned the piece of land, the plot was being misused by unknown persons after breaking a portion of its boundary wall. It said it will look into the issue.