HC asks Railways, North MCD about status of FOB in Karol Bagh

The high court Friday asked the Indian Railways and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation about steps taken to construct a foot-over bridge in Karol Bagh to help residents cross rail tracks safely and avoid accidents in which over 400 people have died.

The proposed foot-over bridge will connect Rama Road and Prem Nagar.

The petitioners have claimed that there is currently only one road via a railway crossing for residents of Prem Nagar to reach Rama Road and Najafgarh road.

The connecting road via the crossing opens only five to six times a day and people are "forced to go straight through the railway track", leading to the loss of many lives, they said.

According to information received under the RTI Act, 514 accidents have taken place in which 436 people have lost their lives and 78 have been seriously injured between 2010-17 due to the lack of an underpass there, they said in the petition.

Hearing the plea filed by two area residents Shravan Kumar Chaubey and Dilip Kumar Gupta, a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar directed railways and corporation officials to be present before it on the next date of hearing on August 30.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Prashant Bhushan said the construction of the underpass was proposed in 2013 and its foundation stone was laid in 2014.

In February 2018, the authorities decided that the project was not feasible owing to its huge cost Rs 128 crore and the need to acquire additional land for it. They then decided to build a foot-over bridge (FOB) at a lesser cost of Rs 8 crore, Bhushan told the court.

But even that has not been built until now, he said.

He also told the bench that the two agencies were directed in November last year and in February this year to file affidavits mentioning the steps taken by them.

Still, nothing has been done till date, he added.

After taking note of his submissions, the bench asked the lawyers for the Indian Railways and the corporation about the steps taken till date towards construction of the FOB.

However, as the lawyers for the two agencies could not answer the court's query, the bench asked their officials to be present before it on August 30.