Lockdown road blocks in Amreli invite wrath of Gujarat HC

AHMEDABAD: The overzealous approach of Amreli district authorities to dig up 100 roads and block many more by offloading heaps of gando baval or prosposis juliflora weed to rein in mad rush of people violating lockdown to reach their homes has invited wrath from the Gujarat high court. The HC on Friday asked the state government to resolve the problem of closed roads in the district which is now hampering movement of ambulances and vehicles carrying essentials too!
A PIL in the high court complained about the complete blockade after an incident of ambulance getting stuck in the dug-up road and not able to reach its destination came to the notice of the petitioner.The PIL submitted that the district authorities’ decision to block roads in such a fashion came on April 18, nearly four weeks after the lockdown was imposed. It has urged the court to quash the order passed by district authority on April 18 and get all roads opened for essential services.
Petitioner’s advocate, Bhaumik Dholariya, said that the road blockage in Amreli is in clear violation of the lockdown guidelines issued by the Union and state government. “Nowhere it is mentioned that the roads have to be dug up. There are nearly 100 places where roads have been dug up. This blocks movement of farmers and farm produce. There was an incident where an ambulance could not reach its destination,” the lawyer said.
The PIL urged the HC to direct the administration to remove such blocks from Amreli roads and resort to only police barricades, which can serve the purpose of restricting people’s movement. The lockdown permits movement of people who are in essential services, but digging up roads deprives people of essential services too.
The PIL also claimed that digging up the roads would not only burden the state exchequer because the roads have to be opened in future, but local residents will be facing problems till they are repaired again.