Kolkata, Feb. 18 -- In a bid to prevent road accidents, Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed that removal of bitumen from Alipore tram tracks be suspended until further orders but clarified that no other tram tracks be covered with bitumen regardless of whether they are operational or not.
The bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) was told by the state counsel that bituminisation of tram tracks in Alipore area was done since services there were suspended several years back. To avoid traffic accidents, it was covered with bitumen. The court said that the removal may now cause road accidents and therefore the direction issued earlier for removal shall stand suspended until further orders since the court is examining a larger issue for restoring tram services in all existing routes.
Court clarified the suspension will only apply for Alipore tram tracks while for the rest of the tracks in the city status quo is to be maintained.
Taking into account that soon the committee formed by the court to deal with the tram issue is set to meet soon, the court directed it to take note of its previous order suggesting participation of private individuals who participate in the exercise of restoring tram services, provided a proper module is created as done in several government projects in public-private partnership (PPP) model. "Let committee examine the same to preserve the heritage of Kolkata," the court said, and called for a report to be filed on the next hearing date.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.