After HT report, HC seeks reply on Birahimpur bridge

A division bench of justice Vikram Nath and justice Abdul Moin instructed that the HT report published on November 13 and 17 be registered as a PIL petition.

Taking suo motu cognizance of the plight of residents of a village a report on which was published in Hindustan Times recently, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed the state counsel to inform it on November 28 about the steps taken for the construction of a bridge over river Betwa to connect Birahimpur village with Malihabad town, 40 kilometres away from Lucknow.

Locals struggle to cross the dry river bed with their motorcycles in Uttar Pradesh’s Birahimpur village. (HT Photo)

A division bench of justice Vikram Nath and justice Abdul Moin instructed that the HT report published on November 13 and 17 be registered as a PIL petition. The court also directed that both editions of the newspaper shall form part of the record while passing the said order.

Chief standing counsel Ramesh Pandey has assured the court he will apprise it of the concrete proposals for the same by November 28. The court said the newspaper report dated November 13 did not receive any response from the government. However, a private company from Mumbai namely ‘SDM Architects’ volunteered to help build a new bridge in said village after the HT highlighted the issue, it added.

The court also instructed the chief standing counsel to inform the court about the steps that may have been taken by the government pursuant to the offer of the said company.

Manoj Kumar Singh