City must be cleaned on a war footing: Delhi HC

New Delhi: Puling up the city administration and corporations, the Delhi high court said that the municipal bodies will have to start cleaning up the city on a war-footing.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar said this after all the civic bodies failed to show to the court that they had cleared garbage from the roads, parks and pavements under their respective jurisdictions.

“You (Delhi government and the civic bodies) will have to take up the cleaning of Delhi on a war-footing. You have not even prepared yourself for a war. You were supposed to take up a drive for a period of two weeks to ensure that no malba or garbage is seen in the city of Delhi.”

“This is your city. Don’t you clean your house from inside. Why can’t you keep your exterior (roads, parks, pavements and other adjoining areas) also clean,” the bench said, adding “you cannot even keep India Gate clean, which should be the model for other parts of Delhi”.

“Have you seen the lawns, roads and street lamps near the India gate. Everything is like falling apart,” the high court bench said.

The counsel for the Delhi government and various civic bodies said they were ready for the drive, which will begin from December 16 and end on December 31. They also said they have earmarked Rs 75 lakh for clearing the rubble in public places.

“Good. Very good. You do it and file the status reports before January 11 next year indicating clearly the extent of malba (rubble) that has been removed and the state of the roads and pavements along with photographs,” the bench said.

The court issued the direction on a PIL by Col (Rtd) B B Sharan who has sought directions for maintaining cleanliness in Delhi.