Gujarat has better roads, observes Bombay High Court

Hearing a PIL regarding a road-maintenance contract, the Bombay High Court today observed that roads in neighbouring Gujarat are in better condition than Maharashtra.

“People say that Gujarat has got best of the roads…as long as you have not crossed the border (into Maharashtra). It’s a shame for our government that we cannot build good roads,” said Justice J N Patel.

“Courts can not build roads,” the judge added.

The division bench of Justices J N Patel and Amjed Sayed was hearing the PIL filed by Sandip Patil, a city-based architect, who complained that repair work of Kalyan-Shil road was not complete, yet the private contractor had started recovering toll.

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation has awarded the repair and maintenance contract for this road to Plus Constructions on BOT basis. The road connects Bhivandi with Pune.

The petitioner’s lawyer, advocate D S Mhaispurkar, argued that repair was only half-complete. The company’s lawyer disputed this contention.

Finally, the court requested senior counsel R S Apte to visit the site and resolve the issue by talking to both the parties.

Next hearing is scheduled for January 13.