The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Friday junked the Tribune flyover project while holding that the same goes against the provisions of the Chandigarh Master Plan (CMP) 2031, according to which flyovers are not recommended in the entire city due to “heritage considerations”.
It said that the master plan is statutory in character and can be changed or modified only by following the process, adopted at the time of formation. “CMP-2031 is inviolable and every provision of the same is mandatory in nature,” it said.
“Chandigarh is the last well-planned city of this country, which has its unique features embodied in the concepts created by its architect Le Corbusier. These need to be preserved and protected, especially the foundational concepts that the city was planned and built not for motorised vehicular traffic but for non-motorised transport,” the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry observed.
The court was dealing with a public interest litigation by Jagwant Singh Bath and others, who had argued that the CMP-2031, notified under the Capital of Punjab Act, 1952, and the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952, is a statutory document and it does not recommend the construction of flyovers within the city and mandates that alternative traffic management measures be explored.
UT had got nod to construct the flyover from the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH). The work could have started anytime as the contractor had been finalised. The flyover, proposed to ease chronic traffic congestion at Tribune Chowk, has faced repeated procedural delays since it was first conceived — causing its cost to bump up from ₹137 crore in 2019 to ₹200 crore now, a 45% increase over seven years. The project was conceived in 2016 to decongest the chowk as most of the traffic coming to the city passes through it. The proposed 1.6-km flyover was to start after the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32 roundabout and end ahead of the railway overbridge on Delhi highway.. In fact, UT had planned extension of the flyover up to Zirakpur for which a consultant was recently appointed.
{{/usCountry}}UT had got nod to construct the flyover from the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH). The work could have started anytime as the contractor had been finalised. The flyover, proposed to ease chronic traffic congestion at Tribune Chowk, has faced repeated procedural delays since it was first conceived — causing its cost to bump up from ₹137 crore in 2019 to ₹200 crore now, a 45% increase over seven years. The project was conceived in 2016 to decongest the chowk as most of the traffic coming to the city passes through it. The proposed 1.6-km flyover was to start after the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32 roundabout and end ahead of the railway overbridge on Delhi highway.. In fact, UT had planned extension of the flyover up to Zirakpur for which a consultant was recently appointed.
{{/usCountry}}It noted that the cost of saving the pristine environment of Chandigarh would be “very low”—”a little sacrifice by humans of their greed and lust”.
“The tendency of humans is to create ways and means to have more and more comfort and luxury, even if the same is at the cost of plundering nature, which is the mother of humans. Humans should remember that we are creatures of nature and as such should not become the creator. The pristine environment in mind, with which Chandigarh city was planned and established, ought not to be forgotten. Sun, Space and Verdure (fresh, green colour of growing vegetation, or lush plants and foliage themselves), which are
hallmarks of this city, need to be protected and preserved at all costs,” the bench observed.
The court, however, clarified that the master plan does not prohibit underpasses — a tool UT can opt for to deal with traffic congestion.