Bombay High Court, taking a tough stand on potholes on MMR roads, has asked commissioners of 6 municipal corporations to appear on Friday. A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Arif Doctor also expressed concern over the deaths due to potholes and open manholes on Wednesday. The bench said that the High Court in 2018 had directed to fill the potholes and cover the manholes. But 5 years have passed, isn’t this enough time to fill the potholes.
The court directed the commissioner of all the municipal corporations (BMC, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayander and Vasai-Virar) and the commissioner of MMRDA to appear before the court.
The court has asked the commissioners why contempt action should not be taken against them for disobeying the order of the court regarding filling of potholes and covering of manholes? It is the responsibility of municipal officials to keep the roads clean, but it seems that until the officials are held personally responsible for potholes, the situation will not change and people will continue to lose their lives due to potholes.
Referring to the death of a bike rider in Kalyan-Dombivali last month, the bench said that we want to know whether the death of this 32-year-old youth was due to a bad road. The bench has formed a panel of two lawyers to investigate this, who will visit the spot. Along with this, after talking to the youth’s family and municipal officials, they will give a report. The bench said that the local body should conduct a survey of the roads 15 days before the onset of monsoon and take appropriate steps. In this case, BSMC is seen in the ambit of contempt of court.
The hearing is going on on the petition filed by advocate Ruju Thakkar regarding potholes and manholes. During the hearing, Advocate Thakkar informed the bench about the old order in the matter.