NGT team spots mosquito breeding in north, south Delhi
THE TEAM ALSO FOUND A DELHI JAL BOARD SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT WHERE WASTE WAS BURNING
NEW DELHI: A team of commissioners appointed by the National Green Tribunal to check whether its guidelines to control dengue-chikungunya menace in the city were being implemented, have discovered several mosquito breeding sites in north and south Delhi.
The team also stumbled upon open a site inside a Sewage Treatment Plant of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) where municipal waste was found burning. The NGT had imposed a complete ban on open burning of waste in December 2016 and had announced a fine of Rs25,000 on each incident of bulk waste burning. The NGT has directed the DJB to file a reply by May 29.
With dengue and chikungunya cases surfacing early this year, the NGT had appointed 12 young lawyers as ‘local commissioners’ to take stock of the ground situation and brief the green court on how prepared the city was to tackle vectorborne diseases.
The first report, prepared by two lawyers Aditya N Prasad and Keith Varghese, was submitted before the tribunal on Monday. Pictures were attached as evidence.
The 38-page report revealed a grim scenario with water stagnated in clogged drains, vacant plots turned into dumping yards for both municipal and biomedical waste and open burning of waste in several areas.
Malaria inspectors accompanying the team of commissioners found mosquito breeding sites in many places including Meera Bagh and Mianwali Nagar in Rohini, Narela and Keshopur in outer Ring Road.
The NGT had come up with some directions in 2016 to check the menace of dengue and chikungunya. Earlier this month, the green body was, however, informed that hardly any measures — either short-term or long-term — have been taken.
“There are fresh water pools, indiscriminate collection and dumping of waste and the administration has not taken effective steps,” a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar had observed on May 11.
The NGT had also directed the authorities to identify sites for fumigation to control mosquitoes. The commissioners found that no such sites have been identified in most areas.
The bench had then appointed the commissioners and had directed them to visit the civic body areas and Delhi Cantonment board area in small groups of two to three to see what steps have been taken. While the first report covering portions of north and south Delhi was submitted on Monday, reports covering the other parts of the city are expected to be submitted later this week.