The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
HC flags Delhi govt’s ‘lack of will’ to curb ‘rampant violations’ in dairy colonies
TAKING STRONG exception to how issues plaguing dairy colonies in the national capital are being dealt with, the Delhi High Court recently said the administration was taking decisions based on factors unconnected with public health.
The court made the observations after it was informed by the Delhi government that there were “773 unallotted plots and 1,081 unutilised plots” in the Ghogha dairy colony” but there had been “no proposal/ consensus” to shift the Bhalswa or Ghazipur dairy colonies, which are near landfill sites, to the Ghogha dairy “due to the long distance involved”.
The government said it had proposed to ask the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to erect a “barbed wire around” the Bhalswa and Ghazipur dairy colonies to prevent cattle from grazing on garbage at the adjacent sanitary landfill.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Man mo han and justice man meet Pritam Singh Arora in its May 27 order said: “In our considered opinion, the State’s lack of will to shift Ghazipur and Bhalswa dairy colony to an alternative site despiteits proximity tot heslfs( sanitary landfills) and its undeniable adverse effect on public health shows decisions are being taken by the administration for considerations other than relevant and germane to public health.”
The court had earlier asked Delhi’s chief secretary to “seriously consider” relocating the two dairies to an alternative site in Ghogha.
The court was hearing a petition moved by Sunayana Sibal regarding the state of dairies in Delhi. It was earlier informed that the condition of all nine designated dairy colonies — Kakrola; Goyla; Nangli Sakrawati; Jharoda; Bhalswa; Ghazipur; Shahbad Daulatpur; Madanpur Khadar; and Masoodpur — was bad.
The bench said it had got a “distinct impression” about the “lack of will” in the “State functionaries to stop rampant violation of laws” by dairy owners in the nine colonies. “These violations not only affect the public health of citizens and residents who are consuming milk being produced in these dairies but are also wrapped in extreme cruelty to animals housed in these dairies,” the bench said.
The bench also pulled up the Delhi government’s animal husbandryunitfor“abjectdereliction of duties” after it was informed that none of the dairies had the four required licences.
The bench then directed that various authorities concerned be impleaded in the matter. The benchissuednoticestothenewly added authorities and listed the matter for hearing on July 12.