Bombay High Court pulls up government on elevated corridor

Coming down heavily on the government of Maharashtra, the Bombay high court on Friday asked it to explain why a proposal of elevated rail corridor for its suburban local train network has been pending for the last six years. The court was speaking on the matter of reducing crowd in local trains.

“Nearly 3,000 people die every year on the railway tracks and we are just not bothered. It is time that we (court) will have to step in,” observed the division bench headed by justice Naresh H. Patil while hearing a suo motu (on its own) PIL which was converted out of a letter written by A.B. Thakker urging reservation of a separate compartment for senior citizens in local trains. Several issues had cropped up during the course of hearing, including overcrowding in trains.

The bench also said the convenience of the people has to be considered. It also said that so many people die on railway tracks but the government acted like “spectators” saying this is railway’s problem but it is also the government’s responsibility to ensure safety of its citizens and hence the government should also help railway in reducing crowd in trains.

The railways however, informed the court that a proposal of elevated rail corridor had been sent to the state government six years ago by Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation but it was not considered because of the issue pertaining to FSI. A bench later asked the state government to file an affidavit by February 3, stating whether the proposal was stuck because of FSI or any other issue.

Meanwhile, the state also informed the bench that it had issued an order providing one-hour relaxation in office timings for Mantralaya employees from January 1, 2015. However, if an employee reached office late, then he has to compensate by working for that duration after office hours. The government pleader also stated before the court that it was considering the court’s suggestion to change the timings of schools, colleges and statutory bodies during the peak hours to prevent overcrowding in trains.

Earlier the court had also asked Central Railway and Western Railway to ensure that 14 dedicated seats are made available to senior citizens in all suburban trains.