The Delhi high court on Friday expressed concerns regarding the health of the residents of the Bhalswa Dairy Colony, saying that their life was under threat as they were living next to a sanitary landfill site.
A bench of acting chief justice Manmohan and justice Manmeet PS Arora opined that the court was ready to direct the Delhi administration to make arrangements for the residents in nearby areas such as Narela or Bawana, provided they were ready to shift.
“We are not after your property. We have got sympathy for your clients. They (residents) are living next to (a) dump yard. Your life is also under threat. In Narela, Bawana, if you are ready to shift, we can direct the Delhi administration (to make arrangements). We are on the animals. We don’t want our next generation to be sick, infirm,” the court said to the lawyer appearing for the association of Bhalswa residents aggrieved by the demolition notices issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The court was responding to the plea, filed by the association of Bhalswa residents, aggrieved by the demolition notices issued by MCD. The notices were issued after the high court’s July 19 order directing the Delhi government and statutory authorities, including MCD, to extent their sanctions required for shifting all the dairies from Bhalswa to Ghogha Dairy Colony within four weeks.
The application was filed in the petitions alleging that the dairy colonies being wrought with violations of central and state-level statutes.
On August 16, the high court extended its August 9 interim protection granted to various dairy owners from demolition and sealing of their plots by MCD and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board till August 23, after the counsel assured and undertook that the members were willing to shift their cattle.
In its August 9 order, the high court directed the authorities not to demolish the construction on the plots where both dairies and residences co-exist until August 16. In its 15-page order, the court also directed the dairy owners who were ready and willing to relocate their cattle to Ghogha Dairy Colony to file an affidavit disclosing their undertaking to shift the cattle within the time granted by this court, the extent of constructions existing at the allotted plot, the number of cattle owned by the dairy owner along with its tag numbers and the floor of the building on which the cattle is kept, the number of persons residing in each floor and photos of the deponent along with the identification proof.
During the hearing on Friday, the counsel for the association submitted that the members were willing to close their dairies and urged the court to grant them time to do so. Considering the contention, the court though granted them eight weeks, it also granted the authorities liberty to cease the livestock or animal and shift them Ghogha dairy or any other gaushala in case they are found in dairies after the stipulated time.
In its August 16 order, the court with an attempt to make the dairy colony self-sustaining, directed MCD to explore the possibility of involving well-known cooperatives such as Amul or Mother Dairy in the establishment of a milk collection centre at Ghogha Dairy in the national capital, so that the dairy owners have a ready consumer for their produce.