By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the central government to consider experts’ suggestions on public safety issues related to the Katra-Qazigund railway project connecting Jammu to Srinagar.
A division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw asked “the railway board to consider the representation of the petitioner and pass an order within eight weeks as the matter is in public interest”.
The court also allowed petitioner NGO Centre For Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) to file a fresh representation and submit it before the railway board within a week.
The petition filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged that the current alignment of the Katra-Qazigund rail link would cause “serious safety problem” for public and the railway ministry had rejected the experts’ suggestions, including an alternative alignment.
“Eminent experts, senior railway officials and a high-level expert committee have raised serious concerns over the current alignment which most say overlooks the basic human needs of safety, security and comfort while travelling, and makes the entire project unworkable,” the petition said.
The plea further added that there is a strong support for an alternate alignment which is “safe, less costly, which will considerably reduce route length (and thereby travel time), will improve stability, reduce maintenance cost and time and make relief operations easier”.
Bhushan also said that “the alternate alignment is totally in consonance with international experience and practice of undertaking railway projects in mountainous and hilly regions”.
It was also alleged that “overlooking all the concerns, the Railway Board under the influence of these vested interests has gone ahead with the unsafe and unworkable current alignment even though an alternate alignment is eminently safer.”
Bhushan argued that when the speeding trains would take turns in the tunnels in the mountain regions, there would be serious problems of safety.
The petition sought direction for the central government to set up an expert committee to review the entire alignment for the Katra-Qazigund link without being bound by the current approved alignment.
The plea also sought the court’s order for Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to inquire into the financial losses, wastages, and the conduct of the Ministry of Railways.
“How can thousands of crores of public money be wasted? Let an expert committee examine this,” Prashant Bhushan said.
The petition said that the project was slated to be completed in five years, that is 2007. “And yet in 2012, the project is not even five percent complete and costs have escalated by 400 percent and the project is likely to take another 20 years,” alleged the plea.
The petition further added: “Work has come to a standstill for the past 5 years after major lapses of partly-built tunnels. Even after the project gets completed, there are serious safety and security concerns and human life would always be in danger.”
The Katra-Qazigund rail link between Katra (in the Jammu region) and Qazigund (in the Kashmir Valley) was proposed in 2002, seeking to link the valley with the rest of the country. The proposed railway link is about 150 km long and passes through the Himalayas.