The Delhi High Court on Thursday likened the mesh of wires hanging over Chandni Chowk area to "time bombs", and said they endanger lives as in the case of an emergency, fire tenders and ambulances find it difficult to reach the vicinity.
The observations were made by a bench of Justices GS Sistani and V Kameshwar Rao while directing the Delhi Police and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to comply with its order to stop encroachments in the area. "We expect that the previous orders will be complied with," it said. "These are time bombs. A number of wires are hanging over shutters of every shop," the bench said. The court was hearing a plea filed by the Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal against encroachments in the area.
Appearing for the Delhi police, Rahul Mehra said that drives were being undertaken to make the area encroachment-free but vendors resurface after every drive.
The police filed a status report with some pictures, and said that the local police was made available to provide help to MCD 44 times but the staff did not report for the programme.
Appearing for the petitioner, Sanjeev Ralli said that the situation remained unchanged despite the drives.
The court observed that a Supreme Court order declaring Chandni Chowk as a no-vending zone has to be complied with. Suggesting that authorities should adopt unique regulations, the bench listed the matter for November 17.
