Supreme Court: High time L-G gets Delhi's garbage cleared
What's the story
Coming down heavily on Delhi's L-G Anil Baijal, an angry Supreme Court questioned him as to when he's planning to clear off the 'mountains of garbage in Delhi.'
Referring to landfill sites at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur, SC slammed Baijal for inaction despite having powers over the municipal corporations.
Lending mileage to Arvind Kejriwal, SC also ruled Delhi Government shouldn't be blamed for this situation.
SC thunders
'You say I've power, but don't bother to attend meetings'
The bench expressed shock when additional solicitor general Pinky Anand, representing Baijal, admitted that no one from L-G's office attended any of the 25 meetings held in the last two-years.
"You say I've the power, but you don't bother to attend meetings," thundered the bench.
Anand tried to cover up by showing the work done by the civic bodies, but SC demanded a timeline.
Details
SC demands to know the time needed to clear garbage
"Within how much time will you clear the garbage? Do not give us jargon. Tell us in plain, simple English as to how much time will be taken," Justice MB Lokur, one of the bench members, shot back. He was accompanied by Justice Deepak Gupta.
Anand remained mute on that, but tried to shift the blame to Delhi Government, only to get more chiding.
Information
"Don't drag the Chief Minister here. He has no business"
"Do not drag the Chief Minister here. He has no business is what you have said. Be responsible," said Lokur. On Tuesday, SC had asked both the L-G and Delhi Government to clarify who's responsible for the landfill sites. Both acknowledged it's L-G's domain.
More slamming
LG-office prepared solid waste management strategy 'Utopian' as per SC
The court also termed 'solid waste management strategy' prepared by L-G's office as 'utopian'.
"It's impossible to implement. Corporations don't have funds to carry out daily affairs," it noted.
L-G has been asked to reply with an action plan till July 16.
Gurugram municipal corporation chief has also been asked to be present on that day since the city has apparently made progress in this issue.
Information
Delhi generates 10,500MT of garbage every day, 300MT remains uncollected
While SDMC informed that it took them 6 months to reduce the garbage pile in Okhla by 10mts, the court replied more needs to be done since Delhi generates 10,500MT of garbage every day and 300MT remains uncollected. The landfills are already out of space.