‘ Memorial wall’ to make way for JMP underpass
LUCKNOW: The Supreme Court on Thursday gave Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) the go ahead to demolish the outer boundary wall - built by blocking a two-lane road - of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar in Gomti Nagar.
The apex court passed the order on the plea of LDA stating that the boundary wall was posing a hurdle in the underconstruction underpass that would provide a direct road link to Janeshwar Mishra Park (JMP) and also ease traffic in the region. The state government has sanctioned Rs 40 crore for building this underpass work on which had come to a standstill because of the court stay on the demolition of ‘memorial wall.’
On May 4, 2010, the Supreme Court had asked the authorities to maintain status quo at the site on a petition moved by Gomti Nagar Jan Kalyan Samiti challenging the blocking of road and construction of the memorial boundary wall.
Interestingly, LDA, which had justified the decision of the then Mayawati regime to build the wall by blocking the road now said it had no objection over its demolition. On May 4, Hindustan Times had reported that the state government plan to raze the boundary wall to restore both the lower and upper ‘bandha’ roads. A police station was also built bang in the middle of the four-lane upper ‘bandha’ road for the memorial.
“Since neither LDA nor the Samiti had any objection over the demolition of the wall, the court vacated the status quo ordered by it four years ago,” confirmed a state government official over phone from New Delhi.
“Both the structures were causing public inconvenience to commuters and were a major hurdle in the smooth flow of traffic but they were unable to remove them because of the court stay in the matter,” said the official. Consequently, it was in April, this year that the high-level monitoring committee on JMP and Gomti River Front Development headed by chief secretary, Alok Ranjan had asked the authorities to remove all obstacles in the way of the projects.
SINCE NEITHER LDA NOR THE SAMITI HAD ANY OBJECTION OVER THE DEMOLITION OF THE WALL, THE COURT VACATED THE STATUS QUO ORDERED BY IT FOUR YEARS AGO