[COVID-19] Plea in Bombay High Court for sanitizer dispensers in public places, masks for the needy

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking directions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to install sanitizer dispensing machines at public places, disinfect public roads and to distribute free masks to poor and needy persons who are without masks..The plea filed by Citizen Circle for Social Welfare and Education through its president Arshad Ali Ansari also sought installation of sanitizer liquid dispensing machines at railway stations, inside trains, to sanitise trains thoroughly and also check temperatures of the passengers at railway stations before permitting them to board the train.."The current pandemic is unprecedented and aggressive action is required to be taken by the Respondents which is the need of the hour. Imposing a lockdown and thereby, hoping to break the spread of the virus is not the only solution," the petition said.Ansari's specific request for sanitizers at public places came from his visits to various railway stations, bus stops, etc. where he did not find any sanitising machines installed..The plea contended that after the outbreak of the global pandemic Indian cities, except Mumbai, have been making significant efforts in sanitising public space which are considered risk-prone areas for spread of virus. .He relied upon the data on the website of the Press Information Bureau Government of India to apprise the court on the measures adopted by cities in the country to fight the virus spread..Civic Bodies of cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Guwahati, Coimbatore and Raipur started using drones to spread disinfectant to disinfect any surface contaminated by the deadly virus.Cities like Madurai, Tirupur and Kochi installed hand-wash facilities to control the virus.For efficient geographical coverage in disinfection of public streets, cities of Rajkot and Surat adopted high-clearance boom sprayers..Ansari contended that there is no constant or regular sanitization of public places done in Mumbai through any means which according to him is the need of the hour..He also stated that more than half the population in the city are daily wage workers who on account of the lockdown are without any source of income and BMC must ensure that there is free distribution of masks to such persons to prevent the spread of virus..He further submitted that while BMC was rightly imposing fines on people not wearing masks, it should also engage in distribution of mask and use the money collected through fines for installing santizing machines for all major public places "as the same is a paramount factor to help prevent and mitigate the spread of the virus"..The plea also sought appointment of a commission/ panel of expert to assist the High Court during the pendency of this plea..Ansari is likely to make a request to the Court for an urgent hearing of the plea.