HC asks Bihar to submit ATR on encroachments
2 min readPATNA: The Patna high court on Friday expressed its displeasure and sought action taken report from the state government within a week on removal of encroachments from footpaths and roads of the city to ease traffic.
The division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, while hearing a PIL filed by advocate Shashi Bhushan Kumar through Public Interest Litigation Forum, remarked that nothing was available on record even after two months of the court’s order for removing encroachments.
On April 9, the court had directed different stakeholders of the state government to proceed with the action plan as indicated in a counter affidavit submitted by Patna traffic police and submit a report on its implementation. Following the court order on March 12, the action plan was prepared at a meeting presided over by PMC commissioner on April 4.
The petitioner had sought court order to the authorities concerned to take action against the vehicles found picking up and unloading passengers in the middle of the road. The petitioner had mentioned Chiraiyatand and Mithapur flyover as being used as a stand for buses and rickshaws and parking of by commercial vehicles on both sides of the road near Patna Junction. He had also highlighted encroachment at Fraser Road, Exhibition Road, Bari Path, Kankarbagh, Rajendra Nagar and Nala Road by the Patna Municipal Corporation by keeping dustbins. Parking of pushcarts and vehicles on roadsides and keeping unused vehicles under city flyovers were the other problems he had mentioned before the court.
The petitioner stated that traffic congestion resulted in harrowing time for children retuning from schools and patients coming to Patna from other districts by ambulance.
In the counter affidavit by traffic police, it was accepted that issues highlighted in the PIL were genuine and PMC and district administration needed joint action to remove encroachments. It was also proposed that traffic and local police would remain vigilant and act against roadside encroachments for easy traffic flow.
Courtesy: TNN
