The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the civic agencies to come up with plan for better sanitation facilities, after observing that there was a “serious dearth” of toilets in the capital and most people were “still using walls and railway tracks”.
The court of Justices B D Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul also took note of the submission by South corporation counsel Ajay Arora that the agency had floated tenders to “outsource” construction of “modern” public toilets.
“Are you going to make modern toilets only in South Delhi?” the court asked. It noted that not only was there a lack of public toilet facilities, but the existing public toilets too were in a “pathetic condition”. The civic agencies informed the court that they would create “model toilets” in each zone.
“We note that there is a serious dearth of public toilets in Delhi and this needs to be addressed. The respondents shall indicate in the affidavits their clear-cut future plan of action with regard to this,” the court said.
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“They will also indicate their plan of action with regard to public toilets for persons with disabilities. The said affidavit be filed within four weeks,” the judge said, directing the parties to give a time period by which the plan would be implemented.
The court’s direction came on a PIL filed by advocate Ashok Aggarwal on the failure of civic agencies to construct more toilets for women.
The court also directed Aggarwal to give his suggestions regarding requirement of toilets by November 10. “He (Aggarwal) will also inform us where the work has been done and where it has not been done,” the court said.
The High Court also directed the civic agencies to ensure that there are enough persons employed to ensure that public facilities are cleaned and maintained properly.
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