Delhi not even an 'Asia-class city' in cleanliness, says HC

New Delhi: Castigating municipal bodies for not clearing garbage, Delhi High Court on Wednesday observed that the national capital was "not even an Asia-class city" in terms of cleanliness.

"How will we make Delhi a world-class city? It is not even an Asia-class city. Despite all the norms and number of safai karamcharis available, we find that garbage is strewn on virtually all roads of Delhi and drains are not being cleaned properly," a bench of justices BD Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said.

"For this purpose, the petitioner (an NGO) has suggested implementation of an order issued by then Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on February 13, 2001. We have gone through said circular and find it comprehensive.

"But to our dismay, counsel for MCD and the Deputy Commissioners were unaware of the circular. They submitted that circular was issued prior to trifurcation of MCD and it is not known whether it has been adopted," the bench said.

"We direct it be adopted forthwith and appropriate circular be issued by each MCD within a fortnight. The said circulars be implemented without fail so that sanitation work is monitored effectively and there are noticeable results on streets/roads of Delhi," it directed.

The bench asked the municipal corporations to file "substantive status reports" on the issue before the next date of hearing on March 18. It also added that the Centre, Public Works Department, New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Cantonment Board and Delhi Jal Board be made parties to the matter and issued notice to them seeking their responses before the next date of hearing.

The civic bodies were also directed to indicate the status of their review on whether more Safai Karamcharis were needed after the Deputy Commissioners, who were present in court, said more such cleaners were required and the present strength of 62,000 was insufficient.

The bench also sought a status report on outsourcing of garbage transportation from landfill sites after the MCD said that in majority of the zones removal of rubble from 'dhalaos' (rubbish dumps) has been outsourced.