H.C. Arora, Advocate v. State Of Punjab And Others

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA

AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 4100 of 2017 Decided on : 04.10.2017 H.C. Arora . . . Petitioner

Versus

State of Punjab and others . . . Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY KUMAR MITTAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT RAWAL PRESENT: H.C. Arora, Advocate in-person.

Mr. Jaswinder Singh, Sr. DAG, Punjab.

**** AJAY KUMAR MITTAL, J. (Oral) The petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking direction to the respondents to construct a permanent, safe and durable bridge over Sutlej river, at the site where the old bridge stood near village Ajoli (Distt. Nangal) (Annexure P-3, Site Plan) inter alia, on the grounds that (i) earlier also, a temporary bridge over river Sutlej was constructed at the same site by the people, coupled with grant of Rs. 2 lakh from Hon'ble Minister, which was inaugurated by the then Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Punjab on 01.04.2001, (ii) the said temporary bridge collapsed recently on 08.02.

2017, thereby, putting the daily life of the residents of several villages it out of gear, (iii)several hundred students, including girls, who have to daily cross over river Sutlej to attend classes in the three Sr.

Secondary Schools on the other side of the river Sutlej, are facing heavy odds, and many of them will be compelled to give up their education, in case some permanent, durable and safe arrangements are not made to enable them to travel to their schools across the river, safely and conveniently every day, (iv)even the farmers, who have to cross the river daily for reaching their fields on the other side of the river have to face great difficulty in reaching their fields, by travelling extra distance of around 10 kilometers, to and fro every day, (v) in this manner the farmers/residents of about a dozen villages on the 'Bela Dhiani" side of the Sutlej river have been deprived of basic transportation facility, due to failure of the respondent-State Government to construct a permanent, safe and durable Jawala Ram 2017.10.

CWP No. 4100 of 2017 - 2 - over bridge for connected the villages, and (vi) as per Sarpanch of Village Bela Dhiani, the PWD Department had already sanctioned an estimate of Rs. 5.65 crores in the year 2010, for constructing permanent bridge at the aforesaid site, but it could not be constructed due to lack of finances with the respondents.

A further prayer has been made for direction to the respondents to examine the bridge, which is being constructed by the residents, from the safety standards, so that no mis-happening takes place in the near future, inter alia, for the reasons that (i) the aforesaid temporary bridge is being constructed by the villages themselves without any technical assistance from experts and may be potential danger to the lives of those who may use this bridge for crossing the river for reaching Nangal town and vice versa; and also to take further measures to strengthen this temporary bridge, in order to make it safe and durable and also to sanction some grant/financial assistance to the concerned Gram Panchayats for meeting the expenditure on construction of temporary bridge. 2.

Learned counsel for the petitioner states that he does not wish to press the present writ petition and prays for withdrawal of the same. 3.

Dismissed as withdrawn.

(AJAY KUMAR MITTAL) JUDGE (AMIT RAWAL) JUDGE October 04, 2017 J.Ram Whether speaking/reasoned:

Yes/No Whether Reportable:

Yes/No Jawala Ram 2017.10.09 14:52 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Chandigarh