A PIL has been filed in the Chhattisgarh High Court on the issue of the road constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana which has become dilapidated due to random movement of heavy vehicles of a private company.
The PIL has been filed by Avan Banjara through advocate Jeet Patel on behalf of the villagers of Darramuda village near Kharsia in Raigad district. According to the petition, a few years ago, the road was constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. The land of the villagers was also acquired for this. The load-bearing capacity of this road is 12 tonnes under the scheme.
On this road in the village, there is a way to go to the SKS plant. Due to this, there is random movement of heavy vehicles on the road from morning till night. Roads have become dilapidated only in a year due to the movement of vehicles having more load than the prescribed capacity. There have been pits in the road from place to place, due to which there is a possibility of road accident,alleged the petitioner.
The petitioner also pointed out that earlier the government has repaired the dilapidated road in 2011 and instructed the SKS company management to construct the road at a cost of Rs 5.84 crore. Even after this, the management of the SKS Company did not pay any attention to the instructions of the government.
The petitioners stated that the villagers made complaints in this matter to the district administration but no initiative was taken by the government. Therefore, the petitioner approached the High Court.
The petitioner also mentioned that roads constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana are exclusively for the convenience of villagers. Therefore, there is no provision to give compensation amount even for taking private land under it.
The division bench headed by Chief Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon has issued notice to the Executive Engineer of the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana and KSK Company in this matter and sought their reply.