Supreme Court rejects plea against Katra-Banihal rail link

Supreme Court rejects plea against Katra-Banihal rail link 

New Delhi: Supreme Court today refused to entertain a plea alleging that the railways were ignoring serious safety concerns raised by the experts regarding the 125-km-long Katra-Banihal section of the rail link to Kashmir and sought realignment of the project.

A bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A M Khanwilkar dismissed the plea filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) which claimed that the Railway Board had rejected the expert panel’s suggestions, including having an alternate alignment.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, said that Katra-Banihal rail link was a prestigious project and it cannot be completed in the present alignment.

“Even then, we won’t interfere,” the bench said.

Delhi High Court on April 27 had disposed the NGO’s plea after an affidavit filed by the Railway Board said that “after due consideration/examination of the Report of the ex-DMRC chief E Sreedharan Committee, the Board was fully satisfied”.

The high court had expressed concern over safety of the Katra-Banihal rail link to the Kashmir Valley and directed the Railway Board to file a affidavit vouching that the line was examined in light of various experts’ reports and the current alignment was safe.

The Centre had earlier told the high court that Ircon International Ltd and Konkan Railway Pvt Ltd which were working on the project have said the current alignment was safe, survivable and stable.

The plea said that Railway Board did not place before an expert panel, headed by Sreedharan to review the current alignment of rail link, an interim report of an agency which had also examined the feasibility of an alternate alignment.

The Board had in an affidavit told the high court that the existing alignment was “well researched, well investigated line where work is progressing successfully without mishaps or problems. The line is fully safe, survivable and stable”.

It had also said that the use of tunnel boring machines as suggested by the committee was “not tenable”