Khalikpur Gram Panchayat vs State of Gujarat and Others

J.B. Pardiwala, J.

1 This is a writ petition filed in Public Interest under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking appropriate writ, order or direction against the Respondent authorities to take appropriate measures to ensure that there is No. water logging and drowning of Hamlet Anandpura Kampa, Village: Khalikpur.

This Public Interest Litigation is preferred by the Khalikpur GramPanchayat through its Sarpanch. It appears that some work of widening of Halol-Shamlaji highway was undertaken in the year 2004. A small bridge has also been constructed on the river Sankri, as a result of which, village is facing an acute problem of water logging during monsoon. It appears that the Respondents were informed that because of newly constructed road, water which flows above the road gets logged due to height of the road, as a result of which, water is not able to flow across the culvert box and enters hamlet Anandpura. The Petitioner has also drawn attention of the Court that height of the road is increased by about 6 feet from the ground level and Sakri river is situated at a distance of 700 feet from the village. During heavy monsoon, water enters village resulting into extensive damage to crops, houses etc. Showing instance of the year 2006 when the monsoon was very heavy, compound wall of Primary School was also damaged and collapsed. It is also brought to our notice that school building also got damaged.

It is also brought to our notice that local MLA of the area, who is Minister in the State Government, was also appraised of this problem.

Taking into consideration the nature of the problem and hardships which the villagers have to face, we passed an order on 08.04.2008, which reads as under:

This Public Interest Litigation has been preferred by Khalikpur Gram Panchayat against raising the level of four-lane Highway and construction of a bridge, on the ground that such raising will create problem of water-logging and drowning of entire hamlet of Anandpura. In the present case, prima-facie, we do not find any reason why the Court should interfere with the construction of the highway. However, if construction at the place causes water logging, we intend to hear on the question whether raising of such highway will cause water-logging and submerging of villages. If so, then what steps the Respondents intend to take to ensure that the villages are not submerged.

2 Notice be issued on the Respondents. Mr P.K. Jani, learned Government Pleader accepts notice on behalf of the first, third and fourth Respondents. Counsel for the Petitioner will serve two copies of paper-book on him by Monday. Respondents may file reply affidavit within two weeks. Direct service is permitted. Post the petition for admission on 28th April 2011.

3 In view of the aforesaid order, No. further order is required to be passed in Civil Application No. 4569 of 2011. The same stands disposed of.

After the order was passed asking the Respondents as to what steps they intend to take to ensure that villages are not submerged, an affidavit in reply was filed by the Respondent No. 3-GSRDC taking stand as under:

It is submitted that the subject of the petition falls in the project length of widening the existing two lane to four of Halol-Godhra-Shamlaji State Highway No. 5, being carried out by Gujarat State Road Development Corporation Ltd. (a Gujarat Government enteprise) through the concessionaire. The project starts at Halol Junction & traverses in Panchmahal District upto Babalia crossing & remaining length in Sabarkantha District ends at Shamlaji crossing meeting Delhi-Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway No. 8. The area stated in the petition falls under the project length in Anandpura Kampa, the hemlet of Khalikpur village of Modasa Taluka in Sabarkantha District. In this village at Km 476.617 of the road, there is a minor bridge of 4 Nos. of 5.8M. span. In this road widening project on western side of this bridge a similar bridge is being built for the traffic of additional two lane. Thus No. additional bridge is constructed as stated by the Petitioner. It is further submitted that during the work of improvement of road during 2003-2005 at Km.476.872, a 3Nosx.0.90m pipe drain was replaced with 3.0M.x2.5M. box culvert, due to request of the villagers to increase the waterway, by the then Executive Engineer, State Road Project Division, Godhra. Which increased the water way area from 1.90 Sq.M. to 7.50 Sq.M.(almost 4 times).

With respect to averments made in para 4 (C) it is submitted that during monsoon of 2006, heavy rains stormed Gujarat state resulting into heavy floods in various districts. The area mentioned in the petition, situated on Halol-Godhra -Shamlaji road also suffered heavy flooding situation. On inspection of the current project of widening of road in year 2009, after visiting the site, studying the site condition & hearing various representation from local residents by the authorities. The blockage of water disposal from Box culvert (3.0Mx2.5M) at Km.476.872, (provided earlier in year 2005 in lieu of 3 Nosx 0.90M.pipe drain) was cleared by providing open channel.

With reference to averments made in para 4 (D) of the petition, I state that the approach road to Anandpura hemlet of Khalikpur vilalge is at Km.476.900 and the minor bridge of 4span of 5.8M. is located at Km. 476.617. The distance between two places if only @ 280M. After taking into consideration, demands of the lcoal residents, additional Box culvert of 10.0M.X3.5M. at Km 476.702 for existing as well as additional two lane road was provided which is under construction. Thus, the waterway between the affected area is increased by almost 10 times then the earlier waterway in the road land width in the area of present petition, to avoid any flooding due to widening or raising of road. This was informed to the local residents & they were satisfied with this provision.

With reference to averments made in para 4 (E) of the petition, I state that as replied in foregoing paragraph, the authorities have taken sufficient care by providing additional waterway to dispose the rain water and avoid any drowning condition for the inhabitants of the present petition area. However on downstream of the road, the disposal of rain water does not fall within the jurisdiction of the road authority.

With reference to averments made in para 4 (F) to (J), I state that the same are not substantially correct. I state that reaffirm and reiterate what is stated in the foregoing paragraphs. The water way now provided by the authority is much more then the capacity of the minor river bridge. Hence No. further improvement is necessary.

With reference to averements made in para 4 (K), I state that the same are not correct. I state that to improve the vertical profile of the road the level are corrected by raising O.O4M. to 0.33M.in the length from the minor bridge to approach of hemlet Anandpura campa and 100M beyond. In further 2000M length the levels are raised from 0.04M. to 0.9M., depending on the profile of the existing road & corrected vertical profile. But at No. location the road is to be raised by 4'' or more (i.e.1.2M. or more), as stated in the present petition. Even during the floods the road was not over toped due to flood water in the near vicinity of the approach road to the hemlet. Thus further raising the road level will not affect the rain water disposal due to heavy rains. No. additional obstruction is likely to cause by providing any bridge or other structure. On the contrary the waterway of box culvert at km 476.672 is cleared by providing open channel on downside of the road.

Affidavit in reply has also been filed by one M.G. Patel, Executive Engineer, State Road Project Division, Vadodara, wherein the bank''s stand has been taken as under:

I state that we have already informed to the Petitioner vide our letter dated 29.12.2006 that the Design of the Halol Godhara, Shamraji State High Way No. 5 is prepared by the Expert Consultant recognized by the world bank and it was also informed that when the Gujarat State Road Development Corporation, Gandhinagar will take the project on hand for four lanings and upgrading the Road, that time the provision will be made so that the flow of the water in the river should go faster. For the question raised by the Petitioner for water logging in Sankari River and in the matter we have suggested the same to the Higher Authority i.e. Superintendent Engineer, National Highway Circle, Vadodara.

I submit that so far as the informing the authority is concerned, I submit that we have already informed and suggested higher authority to uggrade the Road Design by some modifications by letter No. PB/GSHP-7/66/07 dated 06.02.2007. Looking to the heavy rainfall in the monsoon of 2006-07. A copy of the letter dated 06.02.2007 is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure R I to this reply.

I say and submit that the three raw 900 mm dia pipe drain @ chainage 476/862 was replaced by 3 m X 2.5 m box culverts which increased waterway from 1.9 sq.mtrs. (3 raw of 900 mm dia) to 10.00 sq.mtrs. (3.0 X 2.5 mtrs box culverts) increase of around 300%) in 2005, which was more than demanded. As the water way is increased and the flooded water pass easily and speedily.

I say and submit that moreover the Government Road & Building Department has closed the office of the Executive Engineer, State Road Project Division, Godhra dated 31.03.2010. The construction project of Godhara Shamlaji Road was completed by w.e.f. from dated 31.07.2006 which was started from 20.01.2003 and the records of Godhara Division is handed over to Executive Engineer, State Road Project Division, Vadodara vide Government R & B Department Resolution No. EST/122008/2323/36/G dated 30.03.2010. A copy of the same is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure R II to this reply.

Having gone through the affidavit in replies, we were not satisfied with the explanation as to how the problem has been taken care of by the Respondents. Therefore, on 3rd August, 2008, we passed following order:

An affidavit has been filed on behalf of the third Respondent - Gujarat State Road Development Corporation. Though detailed affidavit has been made, but it has been not made clear as to how much water logging which took place during rainy season in adjacent to the road in question due to high-rise road construction. What remedial measures should be taken to remove water accumulation if they intend to have cause way or culvert box and as per the agreement if the task is given to one or the other party, then they should specifically answer to the same and will give time frame to sort out problem. They should also give specific reply to the query made by this Court on 8.4.2011 as to whether construction at the place causes water logging or not. Though, prima facie, from the photographs attached with the writ petition at page Nos. 74 and 75, it appears that water logging took place during rainy season because of construction of road in question. It will be desirable that the Project Director, Gujarat State Road Development Corporation shall remain present in the Court on the next date. Learned Counsel for the third Respondent will inform the officer for his appearance. Post the matter on 17.8.2011 within five cases.

The Respondent No. 3 once again filed an affidavit with photographs and maps to show that the problem of water logging had cropped up only in the year 2006 when the rains were torrential. In further affidavit filed on behalf of the Respondent No. 3, it has been explained as under:

I say that, I am filing the present affidavit with a view to place on record the efforts made by the authorities to mitigate the grievance of the Petitioner, raised in the captioned petition. I state that I have perused the order passed by this Hon''ble Court on 03.08.2011 and I beg to place on record of this Hon''ble Court the following details pursuant to the same. I state that for redressal of the grievances of the Petitioner as stated in the memo of petition, the authority have taken adequate measures and due to the same this year the problem of water logging has not arisen. I state that due to inadvertence the some of the following details could not be placed in my earlier affidavit, and I tender my unconditional apology for the same.

It is submitted that in the present petition, the Petitioner has placed on record the photographs of the area whether there was water logging in the year 2006. It is submitted that, it is true that at the relevant point of time the problem of water logging was prevailing in the area mentioned in the petition. However, the road was included in the SRP (State Road Projects) in the year 2004-06. I state that before 2005 pipe culvert of 1.9 sq.mtr. was available for the purpose of water way, however, in the year 2005 under the SRP project the same was widened to the extent of 7.5 sq.mtr. It is submitted that consequently the decision to further widen the 2 lane road to 4 lane was taken in the 2009. It is submitted that accordingly the work of road widening was taken up and the same at present is in the final stage. It is submitted that so far as the area mentioned in the present petition is concerned, the work of road widening is already completed. It is submitted that as per the present project one additional box culvert is already provided as additional passage for disposal of water. It further submitted that for the purpose of providing water way, in the present project additional water way (Channel) is also prepared. Annexed hereto and marked as Annexure I are the copies of the sketches which clearly indicate that due to the efforts and the work undertaken by the authorities, the problem of water logging in the area is substantially taken care of.

It is submitted that after passing of the order by this Hon''ble Court, I have made site inspection of the area in question on 05.08.2011 as well as on 10.08.2011. I state that in the present season of monsoon No. such water logging has taken place till date. Annexed hereto and marked as Annexure II are the copies of recent photographs, which clearly indicate that the problem of water logging in the area in question is properly addressed by the authorities by providing additional box culverts as well as new water channel for disposal of water at the site. The blockage of water channel for disposal from Box culvert (30. mtr x 2.5mtr) at Km.476.872 (provided earlier in year 2005 in lieu of 3Nos x 0.90mtr. pipe drain) has been cleared by providing open channel in the 2010 and due to the same this year the problem of water logging has not arisen though since last more than one week the area in question has received heavy rain fall.

It is submitted that the averements made by the Petitioner to the effect that road level is likely to be raised to be extent of 4.5 feet is also not correct. The sketch annexed along with the present shows the road length from Chainage 476.617 to 476.880 Km. It is submitted that in the said road length maximum 0.401 mtr. (1.31 feet) height has been raised as part of the project. It is submitted that raising of the height of the road, in the instant case, is not going to create the problem of water logging as apprehended by the Petitioner. Annexed hereto and marked as Annexure III is the copy of Level Difference Statement indicating the difference in level of the road before the project and the existing road height.

It is submitted that in the year 2006, there was unprecedented heavy rain and die to the same the villagers have faced certain problems, however, subsequently the authorities have made efforts to tackle the situation by providing additional box culvert and widening of the existing culverts at the site. The relevant date of rain from 2005 to 2011, clearly suggest that in 2006, there was flooding situation in the said area. Annexed hereto and marked as Annexure IV is the relevant data of rain in the respective years.

At this stage, it would not be out of place to submit that the approach road to Anandpura hemlet of Khalikpur vilalge is at Km. 476.890 and the minor bridge of 4 span of 5.8mtr. is located at Km. 476.617. The distance between two places is about 270 mtr.only.After taking into consideration the relevant aspects, additional Box culvert of 10.0 mtr. X 3.5 mtr. at Km. 476.702 for existing as well as additional two lane road has been provided. Thus, the waterway between the affected area is increased by nearly 5 times then the earlier waterway in the road land width in the area of present petition, to avoid any flooding due to widening or raising of road height.

Taking into consideration the necessary steps which have been taken by the Respondents to ensure that in future, there would not be any water logging problem in village, we would like to close this Public Interest Litigation reserving liberty for the Petitioner to approach this Court in the event if such a problem once again crops up in future inspite of all remedial measures, which have been taken by the Respondents to ensure that villagers may not have to face problems of water logging. For the present, we are satisfied that necessary steps have been taken to see that water way between affected area has been increased nearly by five times than earlier waterway to avoid any flooding due to rise in the height of the road.

With the above observations and liberty, we dispose of this petition accordingly with No. order as to costs.