Seeking progress in construction work of Ranchi-Jamshedpur national highway of at least 15 km per month, the Jharkhand High Court on Friday asked the NHAI to get the construction work done on a war footing.
A division bench of Justice Virender Singh and Justice S Chandrasekhar was hearing a PIl initiated suo-motu on trees being cut haphazardly to widen roads across the State.
“We want complete chart of the progress that how many kilometers will be covered in how many days…Just go and tell the contractors…. if they fail to do so, termination orders will be passed against them from here only,” said the court. “We want a monthly progress of at least 10-15 km per month,” the bench said.
“We must know your speed…. At least give us an affidavit in this regard,” the court said. “If you show a progress of at least 15 km a month, then only you will be able to complete the work in one year,” it added. The bench reiterated that the progress will be monitored by the High Court.
The court said that its concern was to get the work started at once, so that it automatically gets completed within the stipulated timeframe.
A news report published in a local Hindi daily on June 23, 2014, had triggered this PIl in the year 2014. The report said the road construction department cut thousands of trees but did not plant saplings.
Till date, 29, 702 trees are said to have been cut down to widen roads to facilitate constructions and widening of Ranchi-Jamshedpur Highway.
In a separate case, the Jharkhand High Court on Friday also asked the State Government to submit a sealed report depicting how and in which condition the children are kept after being recovered from the Maoists. The court was hearing a PIl initiated suo motto on media reports in which Maoists reportedly took away at least 29 children to induct them into their cadres and use them as human shield in case a gun battle takes place between them and the police.
The state counsel told the court that out of 29 missing children, 14b have already been recovered while the search for the other 15 children was still on. The State counsel also informed the court that a series of development initiatives were being undertaken in the 32 rebel-hit villages in the Gumla-latehar-lohardaga tri-junction and children are being enrolled in residential schools across the State.
As part of an initiative to prevent the younger generation from falling prey to Maoist propaganda, the State Government has also decided to relocate many impoverished children from these rebel-hit villages, said the counsel.
“File a complete accounts in a sealed envelope that how and where these children are being kept,” the court said. It also wanted a status report of the developmental initiatives being undertaken in Banalat, Peshrar and Sarju regions located in the tri-junction.