The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Centre, the Delhi government, the Delhi Jal Board and others on a petition seeking proper sanitation and waste disposal facilities, besides better surroundings for the residents of Rangpuri area in the national capital.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad sought response from the authorities on Thursday on a petition filed by charitable organisation Sarva Seva Trust, seeking proper sewerage facilities, in addition to constructing public toilets for the residents of Rangpuri village.
Filed through Advocates Kartikeya Rastogi and Inderdeep Kaur Raina, the petition pointed out that a certain portion of Rangpuri village has no access to any sanitation or sewerage facilities and the entire sewage and other wastes generated from the households are being directed into a public well.
The plea stated that the well was full to the brim with waste and other obnoxious substances, which was now flowing into the streets of the village, thereby creating inhuman living conditions.
The charitable organisation, which extends support to the cause of providing education and medical check-up to children from economically weaker backgrounds, noted in the plea that the unhygienic and unhealthy conditions were adversely affecting the quality of life of the residents living in the village, thereby impinging upon their constitutional rights enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The petition alleged that the state government and its agencies have been negligent in discharging their functions and obligations, forcing the residents of Rangpuri village to live in an unhealthy and unclean environment.
The residents were susceptible to infections and water-borne diseases such as Dengue, Typhoid, Gastroenteritis, Cholera, Hepatitis, E. Coli and Salmonella, it revealed.
The plea sought proper sewerage facilities, in addition to construction of public toilets for the residents of Rangpuri village.
Besides, the petition sought constitution of a committee to inspect those villages or unauthorised colonies in the national capital, which lacked sanitation facilities and implementation of a plan to provide sanitation facilities to such villages and colonies in a time-bound manner.