“Why no security cameras on the highway?” Supreme Court questions NHAI, flags of parked vehicles and encroachments | Today’s news
New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday took notice of the problem of encroachment and stationary vehicles on highways and asked the National Highways Authority of India why it cannot install a camera surveillance system and monitoring rooms at toll booths to deal with it.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing the suo motu case related to the accident in Rajasthan’s Phalodi area that claimed 15 lives, said encroachment and stationary vehicles on the highways were the two main problems.
Counsel for NHAI said they have issued circulars for regular inspection and patrolling to check unauthorized parking on highways.
“Why don’t you think of having a camera surveillance system? You can have monitoring rooms at all toll booths,” the bench said.
Senior advocate ANS Nadkarni, who is assisting the apex court as amicus curiae in the matter, said one of the major problems was illegal parking of vehicles on highways, which leads to road accidents.
The bench noted that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Tamil Nadu government are yet to file their compliance affidavits in the matter.
It gave two weeks to both the ministries to file affidavits.
The bench posted the matter for October 6 and directed the Tamil Nadu government to file an affidavit before the next date of hearing.
In November last year, the apex court took suo motu cognizance of a road accident in Phalodi on November 2 in which a speeding passenger rammed into a stationary trailer.
The incident took place near Matoda village on the Bharat Mala Highway when the passenger was speeding from Bikaner’s Kolayat temple to Jodhpur.
On 13 April, the apex court issued a series of interim directions, including that no heavy or commercial vehicle shall park or stop on any national highway or paved shoulder, except at a designated bay, rest stop or roadside facility.
It also banned the construction/operation of any new ‘dhaba’, restaurant or commercial structure within the right-of-way of any state highway.
The Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways/NHAI to identify accident sites and critical areas and publish a complete list of accident sites on national highways.
“It can be seen that national highways constitute about 2 percent of the total length of Indian roads, but account for nearly 30 percent of all road deaths. Roads, especially high-speed highways, must not become dangerous corridors due to administrative lethargy or infrastructural deficiencies,” it said.
