‘Take steps to manage traffic around school’

Acting upon a public interest litigation (PIL), the Bombay high court on Friday called the traffic flow at a prime intersection in city the “Brahmaputra of traffic”. It asked what measures has the BMC taken to manage the heavy flow vehicular traffic. The HC expressed their concern about safety of the students of a school near the said intersection who have no option but to cross the road. After hearing BMC’s lawyer Yamuna Parekh’s reply that a “mock island” was created at a Borivali road intersection, a division bench of Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari and Justice Gautam Patel, asked, “Are children going to cross roads or will they be taken to a safe place How do they go to the other side ” Justice Dharmadhikari observed, “Vehicles don’t halt on these roads, but travel with screeching sounds. This could be a dangerous situation to handle.” Dissatisfied with the BMC’s response, Justice Patel said, “You’ve put three stones and said that it’s a temporary island. Do something for the children.” Justice Dharmadhikari said that in other countries ,children were never asked to cross roads. “After school is over, a child runs to his parents. A child won’t see whether a bus is coming or not. You should make arrangements and divert traffic flow to some other lane.” The high court was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Rachana Chavan, who in her petition, stated that Don Bosco school is situated at the intersection of Chandavarkar Lane, Lokmanya Tilak Road and Linking Road, which sees heavy traffic daily. “There is no traffic police engaged for the said subject area and no motor vehicle driver follows traffic ruled in proper way,” alleged the petition. While appointing advocate Rajiv Narula as amicus curiae (friend of court) in the case, the court directed the BMC to work in coordination with traffic department and take the requisite measures to ensure the children’s safety.