Hearing on the writ filed against the construction of the Panjrapol flyover, the Gujarat Court made some serious observations and has now ordered AMC to produce all records related to the flyover.
The Bench consisting of Justice Sunita Agrawal and Pranav Trivedi, stated that, considering the reports of the expert bodies placed on record in the present writ petition, the matter of road planning by AMC requires serious relook.
The HC has now ordered AMC to produce before the court all the records and materials related to the decision-making process for the construction of the flyover on the Dr Vikram Sarabhai Marg (IIM Road) from Panjarapol Junction.
The bench noted that, according to the IITRAM (Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research and Management) and CSIR (Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi) reports, the proposal of flyover at this junction is an exercise carried out in complete disregard of the recommendations of IITRAM and CSIR.
IITRAM and CSIR had presented a comprehensive report of 34 junctions of Ahmedabad in 2010. Another traffic study report was also presented in 2012 by these two organizations for improvement of junctions along major road corridors in Ahmedabad.
The petitioner brought to the notice of the court the fact that the AMC authorities are constructing the Panjarapole flyover by ignoring the recommendations of the reports of these two bodies.
The petition in Gujarat High Court has raised the following issues with construction of Panjrapol flyover-
There is no need for a flyover from Panjrapole Cross Road to IIM because there is already one flyover.
The construction of this flyover will result in the felling of old trees, which is unacceptable from an environmental perspective.
This entire area is green cover. Ahmedabad has already lost 48% of its green cover since 2011.
Traffic on this road has decreased by 15% in 2020 compared to 2012, eliminating a need for the flyover.
The Ranjit Buildcon company, which has been awarded the contract to build this bridge, has a poor track record.
Allowing the construction of such a bridge for the sole purpose of earning profits for the contractor company at the expense of the environment cannot be permitted.
Since there is no need for a flyover, the High Court should not grant permission for its construction.
Construction company’s poor track record
The petitioner’s side also brought to the High Court’s attention that the Ranjit Buildcon Ltd and Ranjit Construction Company are both part of the same group, which has a very bad and poor track record.
The group is involved in serious irregularities related to construction. In Surat, during the construction of a road widening project between Jamnaba Park and Anuvrat Dwar, a two-year-old died, and many laborers were also injured.
With the Sabarmati Riverfront project, Ranjit Buildcon Ltd was awarded the contract for a specific part of Phase 2, and they had constructed an artificial sewage bridge that collected contaminated sewage waste and obstructed the flow of water in the river.