Mumbai: Thirteen-years after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed seeking widening of east to west foot overbridge (FOB) near Bandra railway station, the Bombay high court has directed the tree authority to soon decide on the proposal on receiving it.
Swati Trivedi, a Bandra resident, had filed a PIL in 2006 seeking extension and strengthening of the FOB as the bridge vibrated on being crowded.
The division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N.M. Jamdar disposed of the petition considering the statement made by the counsel Suresh Kumar appearing for Railways that the FOB has been constructed but there are two trees coming in the way for further extension and completion of bridge.
“If this is the case then we observe that the tree authority whenever in receipt of any proposal in this regard shall dispose of such proposal at the earliest and on it’s own merits,” observed Justice Patil.
During previous hearing, advocate Dhruti Kapadia on behalf of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had said that the BMC has always supported the Railways when it comes to benefit of public at large and the civic body has already provided enough fund to the Railways so that they could construct the bridge.
The petitioner had said that the FOB was narrow, rickety and no measures have been taken to either widen it or strengthen it to bear the increased load of commuters.
The court in 2006 had converted this petition into suo motu (on its own) PIL and had directed the railways to construct a new central FOB, widen the existing brdige that connects the west side and all platforms to the east side.
