The Times of India              30.01.2014 

HC asks NMC to send 5 DPRs to Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority

NAGPUR: Taking serious cognisance of the apathy of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) officials, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed it to submit revised Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of five projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) before February 15. In turn, MMRDA was asked to forward these DPRs after proper scrutiny to the centre within next three days.

A division bench comprising justice Bhushan Gavai and justice Atul Chandurkar while fixing next date of hearing as March 7 asked NMC commissioner to file a detailed affidavit on the progress in this regard.

The court orders came while hearing a PIL by Mohan Karemore and others through their counsels Shrirang Bhandarkar and Shrikant Khandalkar, charging the civic bodies with failing in their duty of creating proper and adequate parking infrastructure. The petition quoted a master plan prepared by L&T Ramboll, where the city's transportation needs in future were studied.

The report estimated around 16 lakh two-wheelers and 2.77 lakh four-wheelers would ply on city roads by 2031, and existing and even proposed infrastructure was insufficient to handle such massive numbers. The PIL prayed for restriction on sale of vehicle, unless there is massive development of road network.

Additionally, it demanded better parking facilities, improvement in traffic and road management, and open spaces to end parking woes and traffic congestion. NMC, NIT, state government, MSRTC, and PDKV were made respondents.

Earlier, the judges cited old order of December 16, where they noted that five DPRs were never dispatched to the centre as per report submitted by the union secretary. It also said that JNNURM can now operate till March 31 this year, and new projects could also be sanctioned.

NMC, however, said that to revise DPRs and to bring it on Scheduled of Rates (SOR), a competent consultant has been appointed. Senior counsel Avinash Gordey drew the court's attention towards congestion at Ganeshpeth Bus Station. He also wants the court to peruse some photographs to point out the situation prevailing at that place. He contended that this problem also needs to be addressed immediately in general public interest.

"We find that five DPRs mentioned above cover that aspect. However, NMC as also the state government has to find a suitable solution to the same," the judges said.