Prioritise completion of pending bridge construction work: HC

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court recently directed the Block Development Officer of Sagardighi Development Block, Murshidabad, to give priority to completion of the remaining construction work of a small bridge over a canal to ensure that villagers’ accessibility to their agricultural lands are not constrained.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed raising issues regarding the bridge construction. It was submitted before the Division Bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya that earlier there was a bamboo bridge which collapsed. Repeated representations were made to the Panchayat, but no action was taken.

The advocate for the petitioner submitted that the villagers collected money and started construction of the bridge. They have made a reimbursement claim which was declined by the authority on the ground that the procedure was not followed.

Advocate appearing for the BDO submitted that the Gram Panchayat undertakes development work through the due process as envisaged under the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 and all development works of Gram Panchayat are to be included in its Annual Action Plan of 15th Central Finance Commission/State Finance Commission, amongst others and are ratified by the Gram Seva.

Thereafter, a tender is floated for selection of agency to implement the work and the work order is issued. After satisfactory completion of the work, the contractor submits the bills, which are paid off after verification by the Gram Panchayat.

It was argued that in this case, the Panchayat had inculcated the plan of making a bamboo structure for transportation over the canal in the Annual Action Plan for 2024-25 financial year, which was targeted to be completed by March 31, 2025. It was observed that the question of reimbursement to the villagers does not arise because the expenses incurred were without the prior approval of the authorities. At the same time, it was considered that since work had started and rafters had been erected, it would not be in public interest to dismantle the structure.

The Division Bench directed the BDO to issue orders for commencing the remaining work of the bridge at the cost and expenses of the state exchequer. “The time as per the Annual Action Plan is stated to be upto March 31, 2025, which is too long a time and therefore, we direct the Block Development Officer to give priority and to complete the remaining work which was commenced by the villagers by allocating the funds on emergency basis…,” the

Bench directed.