MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday directed the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries department to speed up the repairs and reconstruction work of 45 km internal roads in Aarey Milk Colony.
The division bench of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Arif Doctor has directed the department to submit a proposal for prior permissions of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and forests authorities for road work within a week and the authorities in turn are directed to decide the proposal in four weeks thereafter.
“Once the requisite permission/approval etc. is accorded, the work relating to repair/maintenance / construction or reconstruction of the roads shall be started immediately thereafter,” said the bench. The court also suggested the government should consider short-term tender notice if bids were required to be invited.
The court also directed the department to close in 10 days the stretch of 8.22km of roads for which alternate routes are available – pursuant to a recommendation made by a court-appointed committee.
The bench passed the order on a petition filed by Binod Agarwal, a local resident, seeking directions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take over maintenance of the internal roads in Aarey Colony.
Agarwal had contended that that the MMRDA had handed over the control of the Western Express Highway and the Eastern Express Highway to the BMC in November last year and other government bodies responsible for various roads in the city had also handed over the roads with them to the BMC, and hence the same should be done in the case of internal roads in Aarey Colony.
The former navy personnel also informed the bench that the internal roads which were under the PWD were not maintained regularly and the situation worsened during the rains hence the same should be handed over to BMC.
Vanashakti, an NGO, has filed an intervention plea in the petition, seeking direction from authorities to repair and reconstruct the road within the Forest and Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) areas of Aarey Colony without impacting the natural environment and after obtaining appropriate permissions from the authorities.
