India, May 30 -- The Delhi high court on Thursday gave the public works department (PWD) 24 hours to respond to its suggestion of cleaning and beautifying a culvert used daily by over 3,000 soldiers of the Rajputana Rifles Regiment on their way to the parade ground, after taking suo motu cognisance of a Hindustan Times report that highlighted the unsanitary conditions the soldiers were forced to endure.

A bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Manmeet PS Arora directed PWD's counsel to seek instructions by Friday, noting that while plans for constructing a foot overbridge (FOB) were in motion, the work would take time and a short-term solution was urgently needed.

"The media report in HT today has been placed by the counsel for the Delh...