The high court on Monday directed Patna Municipal Corporation to ensure vendors selling eatables bring their own dustbin, keep it at a proper place and throw the garbage in it.
A division bench comprising Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Vikash Jain also directed the PMC that if the vendors do not obey the court order, a fine may be imposed.
The court directive would come as a huge relief for commuters as there is hardly a road in Patna where one does not find street vendors selling eatables and in most of the cases they keep on throwing the waste material on the streets.
As this process continues for the entire day, it becomes difficult to keep roads clean throughout the day since garbage is collected generally in the morning.
A source in the PMC said after going through the details of the court order, the civic body would chalk out a mechanism to control the menace and those found to be violating the norm would have to cough up a fine.
The source, however, added that given the manpower constraints, it would be a tall order for the civic body because it was already overloaded with plethora of routine works.
The court also directed that the PMC should aware residents about the ills of throwing garbage in the open. The direction came during the hearing of a PIL filed by one Sunil Kumar.
An officer with the PMC said this was something that needs to be addressed on priority basis because the civic agency cannot clean up the city alone till residents come forward and co-operate.
In the past, efforts were made to impose fines on those found to litter garbage on roads but it could not be continued.
Residents, on the other hand, feel that the PMC should start taking disciplinary measures only after putting dustbins alongside the roads.
“Dustbins are hardly visible in the city except those on the main roads. This often forces people to throw garbage on road,” said Girish Mishra, a resident of Ramnagri Road.
The court also directed the PMC to submit a complete plan on how the garbage will be removed from the city. The next date of hearing is on July 30.
PMC counsel Hargovind Singh Himkar assured the court that the civic body is taking all possible steps to comply with the court order.
On July 5, the court had verbally asked the PMC to clear the garbage from the city in 48 hours. It had even threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against the civic body on Monday if it failed to clear the garbage.
During the hearing on July 5, Justice Navin Sinha had said: “Today, I became the victim. I got stuck on my way to court because a garbage loaded truck had blocked the road.”
The division bench had also slammed the PMC for carting garbage during the day.