Lawyers Shams Rajpar and Shabir Shar filed two constitutional petitions, claiming that the N-5 highway was in terrible condition from Ubauro to Hyderabad and lacked proper signboards, due to which accidents occurred on a regular basis. They further alleged that funds meant for highway construction were misused, causing inordinate delays.
The petitioners also stated that it was the duty of the NHA to provide alternative routes and post signboards before starting construction but due to its failure to do this, the highway had turned into a death trap.
They also blamed the Motorway Police (MP) for neglecting to perform its duties, causing road accidents. The petitioners asked for proper compensation to be given to the families of the victims. On Tuesday, representatives of the NHA and MP appeared before the court on Tuesday, while the Khairpur SSP did not show up. The MP representative failed to produce the report, informing the court that it had instead been submitted to the MP director-general, who would send it to the ministry concerned.
Regarding construction on the highway, the NHA representative claimed that more than 60 per cent of the work had been finished, adding that the rest was expected to be completed by the end of March 2015.
Meanwhile, the NHA representative asked the court for more time, explaining that the chairperson of the body had formed a five-member committee to probe the incident. The bench, expressing its displeasure over the delay, told both the authorities to submit a comprehensive report that fixed responsibility for the incident by the next hearing on January 27, 2015.
At the last hearing, on November 26, the court had ordered the NHA and MP to submit the report on December 23.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2014.
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