HC raps civic bodies over water-logging

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday pulled up the civic agencies for failing to create by-laws to deal with plastic waste management.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday pulled up the civic agencies for failing to create by-laws to deal with plastic waste management.

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The court said plastic waste was a major source of clogged drains in the Capital.

“Half of drainage clogging taking place in Delhi is because of plastic waste… In absence of infrastructure for segregation, collection, storage... and disposal of plastic waste.., it would be difficult to stop clogging of drains,” a bench of Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Ashutosh Kumar said.

The court expressed displeasure at municipal corporations, public works department (PWD), and other agencies for passing the buck to each other over Wednesday’s water-logging.

The PWD’s counsel blamed the municipal corporations for “abdicating their responsibility”, saying majority of the remaining 30,000 km roads were under their jurisdiction.

The Delhi government’s senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra claimed PWD officials were not taking its orders after the high court said the lieutenant-governor was the administrative head of the capital.

The court directed the local bodies to frame by-laws incorporating the provisions of the 2016 Rules, which include proper segregation of bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste at source.

It ordered the State Level Advisory Committee to convene a meeting and submit a status report by the next hearing.

The court was hearing a PIL by Col (Rtd) BB Sharan who has sought direction for maintaining cleanliness in Delhi.