The Bombay High Court was informed that Maharashtra government had set up a committee to suggest measures to ensure safety of women working in the Information and Technology (IT) sector.
Taking the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to task over the deteriorating condition of the city’s roads every monsoon, the Bombay High Court Thursday said the problems stemming from “potholes had not been solved from 2016 to 2017”. “How many more people do you want to eliminate till the next monsoon?” the court asked Thursday.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice N M Jamdar were hearing a suo motu public interest litigation on the poor conditions of roads in Mumbai and the civic body’s failure in tackling the problem of potholes that reappear every year. Amicus curiae Jamshed Mistry mentioned the latest casualty of potholes was a 36-year-old woman biker from Bandra, who died after she lost control of her motorcycle on a pothole-ridden road from Dahanu to Jawahar Road last month. She fell down and came under the rear wheels of a truck.
The court said they had read about more than 25 persons dying due to potholes. Arguing for the BMC, senior counsel Anil Sakhare said they had received 500 complaints relating to potholes with the onset of monsoon in July. “We are not on whether these complaints were attended to or not. You are obliged to look into such complaints,” said the CJ, adding that she would look out for potholes while she travelled. “If everyone starts doing it then entire Mumbai will be covered. The corporation will know where there are potholes,” the bench added. With Sakhare informing the court that they had a toll free number in place to receive complaints about potholes, the court remarked, “No toll, we know how much they pick up the phone.”
The bench was informed that a committee was in place to look into the complaints. “We have come to a stage where there is a committee in place supervising your committee. It is a shame,” said the CJ, asking how many deaths had taken place since the formation of the BMC committee. The court has now directed for member secretary of the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority to be appointed as the nodal officer to receive complaints regarding potholes in Mumbai. One person from the authority shall be appointed as nodal officer in each district too.
“I must say the roads are bad here. People don’t feel happy to travel by road. We are not satisfied,” said Chellur. Pointing out that the problem of potholes was not limited to Mumbai, the bench asked for municipal corporations and municipal councils across the state to be made a party in the matter. “Any person having complaint regarding potholes or accident caused due to this can forward complaints to the nodal officers,” said the court.
