Lack of coordination among agencies reason for half of Delhi's problems: High Court

The Delhi High Court today directed all agencies concerned to hold a meeting to make a traffic plan for highly polluted Anand Vihar area here, saying that lack of coordination among local authorities is the reason for half of the city's problems.

The observation by a bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar came during hearing of a PIL on air pollution in Delhi in which the court has been dealing with traffic congestion and lack of cleanliness in Anand Vihar, which has the worst air quality in the national capital. "Half of the problems of Delhi is due to lack of coordination among local authorities," the court said and directed that a meeting be held of all stakeholders to devise a traffic management plan for the area.

Representatives of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Traffic Police, the transport department, the Public Works Department (PWD), Delhi Metro, the railways and the resident commissioner of Uttar Pradesh will attend the meeting on February 20 at the Traffic Police Headquarters, it said. With regard to the corporation's claim of having removed the hawkers and encroachments from the main road, the service road, pavements and the foot overbridge there, the civic body and Delhi Police have been directed to ensure the vacated areas are not re-occupied.

The bench noted that from the photographs of the area placed before it, the railway station in the area was also not free of garbage and debris and directed Northern Railway to clean it up on a war-footing. A direction was also issued to the Irrigation Department of the Delhi government to come out with a plan for cleaning, including possibility of filtering and proper management of the drain running along road no. 56 there.

PWD has been tasked with ensuring repair of the roads and pavements under its control in the area. The Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) has also to be cleaned and repaired, wherever required, the court told the Delhi government. A similar direction was issued to the resident commissioner of UP with regard to the bus terminus at Kaushambi so that there is no congestion leading to traffic problems in Delhi.

The National Highways Authority of India was ordered by the court to ensure the highways constructed by it are kept free of garbage, debris and dust to the extent possible. The court said that all the directions be complied with in a week's time and a status report be filed before the next date of hearing on February 23.