Monday, May 22, 2023 05:45 [IST]
Last Update: Monday, May 22, 2023 00:12 [IST]
GANGTOK,: A Sikkim High Court-appointed committee consisting of advocate Tashi Rapten Barfungpa and concerned officials will be overseeing all activities for proper maintenance of the national highway stretch between Sevoke in West Bengal and Gangtok, Sikkim.
Advocate Barfungpa is the Amicus Curiae in the sou moto PIL taken up by the High Court of Sikkim in 2010 to ensure that the lifeline of Sikkim is properly maintained on both sides of Sikkim and West Bengal by concerned agencies of Centre and the two State governments.
During its last hearing on April 18, the Amicus Curiae had submitted to the High Court of Sikkim for constitution of a committee that will be responsible for overseeing all activities relating to maintenance and upkeep of the highway between Sevoke and Gangtok on a regular basis.
As per the court’s directive, advocate Barfungpa filed an affidavit regarding the constitution of the committee where all the stakeholders represented.
The affidavit also indicates the manner in which the committee shall monitor the implementation of various orders passed by the High Court of Sikkim from time to time relating to maintenance and upkeep of the main arterial road between Sevoke and Gangtok.
The matter was heard by the division bench of Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai on May 18. The bench directed the Amicus Curiae to take necessary steps to ensure that all the stakeholders comply with the directions as contained in the previous orders passed by the court.
The Amicus Curiae was further directed to oversee all activities related to the proper maintenance and upkeep of the Gangtok-Sevoke stretch of the national highway on a regular basis and update the court.
All the parties were also directed to assist and cooperate with the Amicus for the purpose of ensuring compliance of the various orders passed by the High Court of Sikkim in the PIL.
As per the affidavit, the committee consists of Amicus Curiae Tashi Rapten Barfungpa and concerned officials from NHPC, NHIDCL, IRCON, Sikkim government and West Bengal government, and MoRTH.
The Sevoke-Gangtok highway stretch is seeing road expansion works and tunnelling works for the railway project. Hydel power projects have also come up on Teesta river besides the road stretch.
The committee will monitor the progress of the ongoing work, including all the regular trouble spots along the Sevoke-Gangtok highway and update the High Court of Sikkim with quarterly reports. Regular inspections of the bridges and tunnels along the highway would be conducted to ensure the structural integrity and safety.
The matter is listed for next hearing on June 8.
