HC pulls up civic bodies for Kushak drain's dismal condition

The condition of the Kushak drain near South Extension II "paints a dismal picture" and shows "utter disregard to court orders", the Delhi High Court today said after it was shown the photographs of the site filled with heaps of debris.
"The photos (of the drain) paint a dismal picture and show utter disregard to court order," a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and S P Garg said and directed the Delhi government, Public Works Department (PWD), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to ensure that the rubble is removed within three days.
The bench also appointed a lawyer as a local commissioner and asked her to visit the site and file a status report.

"The commissioner will visit Kushak/Barapullah drain within a week. The Delhi government must ensure debris and obstructions in the smooth flow of the nullah are removed within three days," the bench said.
The court's directions came on a PIL initiated by it in 2012 on the issue of water-logging in the South Extension Part II area and in which it has passed orders from time to time to the PWD to clear rubble from the Kushak nullah.
Today, the court also took objection to the authorities blaming each other and said, "Don't come with excuses. Whether one or the other agency is responsible is not the matter of dispute here. It is the primary responsibility of the GNCTD to comply with the order."

The bench posted the matter for hearing on August 9 while directing the civic bodies to file an affidavit within a week indicating who is responsible for the work and disclosing the amount of money spent so far in this regard.

During the hearing, petitioner Ankush Vohra showed the photographs of the nullah to the court and sought that the authorities be penalised for "failing" to work.
Earlier, the high court was informed that the PWD has begun the work to clean up the Kushak drain while submitting a status report before a bench which had noted that while the department started clearing the rubble, substantial work remains to be done.

The PWD had submitted the report pursuant to the court's warning on June 16 that the department's officials would be sent to jail for claiming to have cleaned the drain when no such work had been done on the ground.
It had asked the department to show it was working to clear the drain of construction rubble and carry out de- silting.
Manjeet Singh Chugh, a resident of the area, had contended that hardly any work has been done by the civic agency.