Road accidents increasing due to Surjagarh mining: petition in High Court
A division bench of Justices Mahendra Chandwani and Atul Chandurkar on Wednesday issued notice to the respondents, including the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the State Motor Vehicles Department.
Nagpur: A resident of Gadchiroli district has urged the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court that due to iron ore mining activities in Surjagarh, there have been many fatal accidents on the Allapalli-Ashti National Highway.
A division bench of Justices Mahendra Chandwani and Atul Chandurkar on Wednesday issued notice to the respondents, including the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the State Motor Vehicles Department.
National Highways Division of Public Works Department, gram panchayat secretary of Shatigram and Chuttugunta villages, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), Gadchiroli collector, Zilla parishad chief executive officer, Lloyds Metals & Engineers Ltd, and Triveni Earth Movers are the other respondents, Those who were asked to answer before the end of the holidays next month itself.
Petitioner Nitish Poddar, through advocate Renuka Sirpurkar, pointed to the transportation of mining extracts in very heavy vehicles, which has caused serious damage to national and state highways in the area.
Petitioner has submitted that on an average around 5,200 trucks pass
Listing the hazards of these very heavy vehicles coming from remote villages of the backward districts he said that many colleges, schools, primary health centers, and hospitals are located on the route, which can be extremely fatal for patients, residents, and students.
“It is affecting our daily life and it has become dangerous to travel on those damaged roads from Surajgarh to Ashti to Sironcha. But no official is ready to take responsibility for the maintenance or repair of the roads. It has also affected the MSRTC bus service and private transport vehicles. Last year alone, 47 police complaints were lodged on this dangerous road regarding accidents, most of which were fatal,” Nitish Poddar said.
The petitioner has submitted that on an average around 5,200 trucks pass through this route daily and the villagers are troubled by the harmful dust thrown by them.
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