The Madras High Court on Monday recorded the submission of Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) that necessary traffic diversions shall be undertaken for six months to replace the shallow steel girders with Reinforced Cement Concrete slabs on the railway tracks over the Road Under Bridge (RUB) between Reserve Bank of India office and the High Court buildings.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad disposed of a public interest litigation petition after the counsel for Southern Railways P.T. Ramkumar told the court that the officials had decided to block one side of the road in the RUB for 90 days and the other side for 90 more days in order to complete the work without much hassle to motorists.
Motorists in trouble
The PIL petition had been filed by one N.S. Sivakumar complaining about dirty water and toilet pouring down on motorists from the trains passing over the RUB.
His counsel V. Vasanthakumar pointed out that the steel girders had to be replaced forthwith since the RUB was frequented not only by the common man but also by ministers as well as High Court judges.
In reply, Mr. Ramkumar told the court that Southern Railways was ready to undertake repair works but was awaiting traffic diversions to be carried out by the police. It was stated that a tender for ₹3.61 crore was awarded to a contractor as early as on April 25, 2018.
The contractor was also strictly instructed to complete the works before August 22, 2018.
