‘Pains to see commuters’ lives risked’: Bombay HC mulls action against BMC officials over incomplete Bandra skywalk

“The situation appears to be quite serious and, in fact, it pains us to see the life of the commuters being risked and inconvenienced on account of such municipal lethargy. The commuters are required to walk, not only in filthy surroundings but in the chaotic and tumultuous conditions in the absence of a proper safe pavement, and more so, in the absence of a foot overbridge,” the division bench of Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Manjusha A Deshpande noted in the August 20 order.

Nair, a former judicial officer, in his interim application sought expeditious completion of the skywalk and claimed the authority failed to comply with its assurances and court orders.

Along with earlier assurances and directions, in March last year, the high court had asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to complete the construction of the FOB within 15 months, including the monsoon period.

The petitioner had raised the concern that having only one pavement for commuters leads to accidents, as lakhs of people have to walk at snail’s pace due to the “heavily crowded road” and they also face difficulties in accessing public transport services.

The court said, “Certainly, the work in question was required to be undertaken with utmost priority and more particularly considering the severe public inconvenience of thousands of commuters on a day-to-day basis.”

The bench noted that despite earlier court orders and observations, the BMC appeared to be “least bothered of such pain, agony, inconvenience, suffering and hazard faced by the commuters.”

The court said that in successive hearings, the civic body has also “failed to place on record a clean, transparent position on the work undertaken by the contractor” and never moved the court for any justifiable reason seeking extension of time to complete the work.

BMC ‘cutting a sorry figure’

Perusing photographs, the bench noted that no other work has been undertaken except for the installation of pillars. “Thus, as on date, the officials of the BMC prima facie appear to be in breach/disobedience of the orders passed by this court,” the high court recorded.

The court said the BMC was “cutting a very sorry figure” through a “state of affairs”

where no instructions were given by its officials to the lawyer despite Nair having served his application well in advance.

“We are unable to fathom such reluctance on the part of such officials,” the high court said, adding that the BMC Commissioner is required to inquire into the conduct of such officials in charge of the project.

The court said that before passing further orders, the BMC shall file an affidavit as to why statements made before the high court were breached by the officials responsible for the same. As per the order, the officers include Bipin Jadhav, Executive Engineer, Bridges (Western Suburbs), Zone-III, and Prashant Jawale, Assistant Engineer, Bridges (Western Suburbs), Zone-III who work under the executive directions of the BMC Commissioner.

The high court will next hear the plea on September 9.