Have horse and hand carts resumed service in Mather an, H Casks govt

The Bombay High Court has asked the Maharashtra government to specify if hand-rickshaw pullers and horse cart services have resumed at the hill station Matheran. This comes after the HC was informed that despite its orders, not a single tempo has been allowed to enter Matheran to provide goods and services.

A bench of Justice Anil Menon was informed that despite a specific order on June 2, allowing tempos to enter the hill station and provide essentials for the locals, nothing has been implemented and the residents there continue to be left in the lurch.

The bench was dealing with a plea filed by Suresh Lad, a former MLA of Matheran, highlighting the plight of the locals at the hill station due to the lockdown. The plea stated that due to the lockdown, no hand-pulled or horse carts have been operating and this has affected the local residents, as there is a scarcity of essentials in the region.

Notably, the HC had on June 2, specifically ordered the authorities to consider allowing electric vehicles to load LPG cylinders and leave them at the core-sensitive area of the hill station.

On Friday, when the matter came up for hearing, advocate Gaurav Parkar, appearing for Lad, told the bench that despite its earlier order, no tempo service has commenced because the authorities have not hired Bharat Stage VI compliant vehicles. He further said that no goods vehicles complying with Bharat Stage VI specifications are presently registered with the local Regional Transport Office.

Parkar further stated that even the train service which had commenced was found to be inconvenient, since it departs at 1pm, which is not suitable for carriage of essential commodities.

When questioned, the government counsel claimed to have no instructions from the monitoring committee, as the members are still busy dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Nisarga.