Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: In response to the hearing upon traffic congestion at Daulatabad in the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court, the district collector, has submitted a letter stating that
the encroachments existing upon the alternate road from Devgiri Fort to Khuldabad will be removed after completing survey and demarcation process and serving notices to the occupants by May 15. The drive will be implemented in the presence of tight security.
It may be noted that acting upon a court order, the officers from different government offices concerned with the road held a meeting and passed a resolution recently. The chief government pleader Amarjeet Singh Girase submitted the letter in the high court on May 6.
The letter also mentioned that the collector has instructed to deploy a competent deputy collector for land acquisition to take immediate action in the meeting. Hence the bench comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice R M Joshi has scheduled the next hearing on the ‘suo moto’ public interest litigation (PIL) on June 20.
It may be noted that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) submitted a detailed project report (DPR) of an alternate route to the existing road from Devgiri Fort to Khuldabad in January (during the previous hearing). The DPR was made to avoid traffic congestion in front of the Fort, preserve the fortification wall of the Fort, and maintain the entrance.
On behalf of the Central Government, Adv Bhushan Kulkarni brought to the notice of the court that the NHAI prepared the DPR of the road of length 3.5 km and had sent it to the union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH, New Delhi) for approval on January 4, 2024. It is hoped that MoRTH will approve it in 10 days. Later on, within 120 days (till May 9, 2024), the land acquisition process and the tender process of the road will be completed. Accordingly, the alternate road will be ready by March 22, 2025.
The hearing on the PIL was held on Monday to review the progress of the road work. Hence the district collector’s letter was submitted to update the court on the removal of encroachments and implementation of the land acquisition process.
It may be noted that taking cognizance of news published in the newspapers highlighting traffic congestion in front of the Fort, the bench had got filed a ‘suo moto’ PIL and appointed Adv Neha Kamble as an ‘amicus curiae’ in the case.