HC seeks details from state on measures taken to tackle cattle menace, parking issues
A division bench of the Gujarat High Court Friday sought details from the state government on the steps it has taken to tackle the cattle menace and their implementation. The bench also sought details from the state on the efforts it has made to ensure sufficient parking facilities.
The HC’s directions came in a contempt petition on the road and traffic conditions as well as the cattle menace in the state. Earlier this week, the court had also sought details from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on the mechanism that it has put in place for monitoring the condition of roads in the city.
According to AMC’s submission, it has put in place a Project Management Consultant (PMC), appointed on a tender-basis, to monitor the condition of roads. The civic body informed that roads that are within the defect liability period are the responsibility of the contractors who undertook the construction of the road with recovery mechanisms in place.
PMC will monitor the roads that are not in the defect liability period. “They (PMC) have supervision of particular roads and have to report to the two seniormost (AMC) officers (in the engineering department) in (each of the seven) zones (of AMC)… Regular reporting is being made (to AMC officers by the PMCs). It is followed up, cross-checked and verified through the night,” submitted Senior Advocate Mihir Joshi on behalf of AMC.
At the same time, the division bench of Justices AJ Shastri and JC Doshi asked the AMC to provide photographs of the roads after the petitioner’s advocate Amit Panchal pointed out that the affidavit filed by AMC had errors in the attested photos of the roads that had been provided as evidence for the work done by the AMC.
On the cattle menace, Panchal submitted that as of date “there is no state policy, corporation policy or a policy that the corporation will follow of the state”. Panchal also pointed out that the situation is similar with parking facilities that are insufficient and in turn, are the cause of traffic.
Government pleader Manisha Lavkumar submitted that the provisioning for parking is governed by the Gujarat Comprehensive Development Control Regulations (GDCR) which requires all buildings to meet parking requirements as prescribed under the policy, while the traffic police is the responsible authority to ensure vehicles are parked at designated places. Lavkumar added that the details as sought by the court will be submitted before May 4, when the bench is due to hear the matter next.
