The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that even citizens should take the responsibility of keeping their surroundings clean. The HC directed that a time-bound garbage collection system be set up to prevent the piling of garbage.
Citing the example of foreign countries, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and C Hari Shankar asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to implement a system where the garbage can be collected only once in a day.
"In the US, the garbage is collected only once in a week. You can't be cleaning all the time. Implement a system on pilot basis and fix a time for collection of garbage," the bench said.
The court also sought a report from the MCD on the appointment of Citizen's Committee by the SDM under his supervision to ensure that the court's order is implemented.
"You can appoint a local vigilant officer who will be a resident of the particular locality and cannot be won over by anyone," the court said.
The court made the observations and suggestions while hearing two Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyers Arpit Bhargava and Gauri Grover who sought that directions be issued to the municipal bodies among other authorities to take steps taken to prevent diseases like dengue, chikungunya and malaria.
The court also asked the MCDs to set up an attendance system by taking cue from the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).
"How do you ensure that the sanitation workers have come on duty? Do you have a biometric system like NDMC. I would suggest you to have attendance on the website," said the court.
The court observed that about 9000 metric tonnes of garbage is produced in the court everyday and efforts must be taken to keep the city clean and disease free.
A status report has been sought from the MCDs on their efforts taken after the Delhi High court order to maintain cleanliness and prevent diseases.
