The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre and the city government on a petition claiming lack of toilet facilities in a slum near Yamuna despite the much publicised Swachh Bharat campaign on cleanliness.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar issued notice to the Centre, the Delhi government, police, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and directed them to inspect the slum and file a report before August 28, the next date of hearing.
The court was hearing a petition by three law students, Shabnam, Sonali Chauhan and Nitesh Kumar Mishra, who have claimed in their plea that the slum at the Sarai Kale Khan area in south Delhi has no toilets, bathrooms and ‘anganwadis’.
Nutritious food
The students have said that the ‘anganwadis’ were needed to provide nutritious food to the poor and deprived children of the slum.
The petition has claimed that despite thousands of crores of rupees being spent on the Swachh Bharat campaign, hundreds of residents of the slum are defecating in the open due to lack of toilets.
The public interest litigation petition claimed that authorities were not providing the facilities on the ground that the slum was located on the river bed of Yamuna, despite the fact that there was a power grid and electric crematorium in the near vicinity.
The plea claimed that the slum faces drinking water problems due to lack of permanent supply, and tankers never deliver water timely.