Bombay high court slams state government, railways for failing to protect Parsik Tunnel

The Bombay high court rapped the state government, the Railways and the Thane Municipal Corporation for failing to protect the Parsik Tunnel in Thane and making it free from encroachments. The court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of the issue.

The court said that the authorities had been “callous” and had failed to act upon the court’s previous orders, putting the passengers and the functioning of the Central Railways in danger.

Last year, the encroachments resulted in a landslide and disrupted train services. In the past year, no step has been taken to ensure that the incident is not repeated this monsoon too,” said Justice Oka. “All authorities appear to be very casual and callous. They are only shifting responsibility on each other,” he said.

The court noted that since the authorities had failed to initiate any step to safeguard the tunnel and lives of hundreds of passengers, it must take suo motu cognisance of the issue, and convert it into a public interest litigation to “pass appropriate orders and address the problem.”

The court was hearing an application filed by CR about a high court order on eviction of the hutments.

In June last year, after a landslide in the area, the Thane Municipal Corporation had issued eviction notices to the shanties on and around Parsik tunnel at Mumbra in Thane.

The tunnel cuts right through Parsik hill and is an important link for the Central Railway’s suburban and long distance lines.

The slum dwellers had then approached the high court which stayed the eviction notice and asked the Thane civic body to first work out a rehabilitation scheme for the hutment dwellers.