NEW DELHI, Sept 26:
Railway Board was today directed by the Delhi High Court to consider experts’ suggestions on public safety issues for Katra-Qazigund rail link project connecting Jammu to Srinagar after it was alleged that apprehensions about the current alignment have been ignored.
A bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw directed 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 bench also allowed the petitioner Centre For Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) to file fresh representation and submit it before the railway board within a week.
The PIL alleged that the current alignment of the Katra- Qazigund rail link would cause “serious safety problem” for general public and the railway ministry has rejected the experts suggestions for including an alternate alignment.
“Eminent experts, senior railway officials and a high level expert committee have raised concerns over the current alignment which most say overlooks the basic human needs of safety, security and comfort while traveling and makes the entire project unworkable,” the PIL said.
Appearing for the petitioner NGO, counsel Prashant Bhushan said “the alternate alignment is totally in consonance with international experience and practice of undertaking railway projects in mountainous and hilly region.
“Overlooking all the concerns, Railway Board under the influence of vested interests has gone ahead with the unsafe and unworkable current alignment even though an alternate alignment is eminently safer,” the lawyer alleged.
The lawyer argued that when the speeding trains would navigate the turns in the tunnels in the mountain regions, there would be a serious problem of safety.
The PIL sought “a direction to Railways to set up an expert committee to review the entire alignment for Katra-Qazigund link without being bound by the current approved alignment or any ruling gradient and put forward a new workable alignment.”
The petitioner NGO also urged the court to order “an inquiry by the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India to inquire into financial losses, wastages and the conduct of the ministry.”
“The project was launched in 2002 and slated to be completed in five years i.e by 2007 and yet in 2012 the project is not even 5 per cent complete and costs have escalated by 400 per cent and the project is likely to take another 20 years,” the PIL alleged.
“Work has come to a standstill for past 5 years…. Even after the project gets completed, there are serious safety and security concerns and human life would always be in danger,” it claimed. (PTI)
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