High court sets 9-month deadline for Butibori Rob

NAGPUR: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Monday directed the state government to complete the much-needed railway over-bridge (RoB) at Butibori railway crossing within the next nine months.

The government was one of the respondents in the case. The other respondents include the state transport secretary, National Highway Authority of India chairman, Central Railway and JSR Construction Private Limited, the firm responsible for construction of RoB.

A division bench comprising justices Dilip Sinha and P B Varale disposed of the petition saying that after the respondents filed affidavits assuring that the RoB would be completed the stipulated period, the purpose of the petition was 'more or less solved'.

The petition was filed by Ashok Tathod who contended that the construction of RoB commenced June 2, 2006 and was slated to be over within 18 months at a cost of Rs 24.27 crore.

However, even after the deadline passed about three months back, the bridge is far from over, causing massive problems to the thousands of commuters who pass from here every day.

During last hearing, the court directed the government to take urgent action on the RoB's early completion and file an affidavit regarding regulation of traffic at the railway over-bridge after the petitioner pointed out to the court that there is no traffic regulation at the site due to which commuters faced numerous hardships, leading to many accidents as well.

The gates of railway crossing remain closed for two to three hours as over 120 trains pass through the crossing every day, adding to the inconvenience of commuters.

The petitioner had charged that the respondents are deliberately delaying the work for extracting escalating cost of the material which has increased manifold due to delay in the construction.
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