No light in Aman Vihar, authorities pass buck

The Delhi High court on Wednesday expressed displeasure at the conduct of the AAP government and the civic bodies for passing the buck to each other over installation of street lights in Delhi's Aman Vihar, which is infamous for cases of kidnapping and human trafficking.

"We are surprised at the stand taken by GNCTD… We refer to the earlier status report. The said report discloses that there are 54 unauthorised colonies in Aman Vihar," a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and P S Teji said.

The bench was surprised when Rahul Mehra, counsel for the Delhi police, informed the court that despite filing status reports the work of installing CCTVs, street lights, etc. has not been completed as the authorities have been fighting over the jurisdiction.

"Unfortunately, despite the order of this Court we are only in the files. We are filing status reports in which the said proposal regarding the status of putting street lights under the jurisdiction of Aman Vihar Police Station have been examined by DSIIDC.

"According to the concerned authorities as per the directions given by this court they said there is no requirement for mobile toilets. The survey was conducted and amount was finalised. We know how many poles we have to put there. But they said it's not under there jurisdiction," Mehra said.

To this, the bench posed a query to the Delhi government counsel and asked, "You are state and all these come under your responsibilities. You tell us what could be your jurisdiction? Tell us what you are doing?"

Meanwhile, Mehra suggested that the court can consider having the Secretary or Chief Secretary to decide this issue and esclate the matter at a higher level.

MEET IN 10 DAYS

The court directed the chief secretary to call a meeting of the concerned departments — DSIIDC, MCD, Delhi Police, and any other agency within 10 days to ensure that the issue be resolved.