HC asks why govt should not repair 1,085 level crossings
The High Court yesterday issued a rule asking the government to explain in four weeks why it should not be directed to repair 1,085 unauthorised level crossings and to deploy gatekeepers and ensure safety at level crossings across the country.
In the rule, the court also asked the authorities concerned in government to show cause why it should not be directed to refrain from constructing level crossings without permission from Bangladesh Railway.
Secretaries to the ministries of railway and local government and rural development (LGRD), director general of Bangladesh Railway and chief engineer of Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) have been made respondents to the rule.
The HC bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal came up with the rule following a writ petition filed by Law and Life Foundation, a rights organisation, seeking necessary order.
During hearing, petitioner’s lawyer Barrister Humayun Kabir Pallab told the HC that there are reportedly 1,412 authorised level crossings and 1,085 unauthorised level crossings across the country.
The unauthorised level crossings on the roads of LGED and Union Parishad are the main cause for accidents, he said.
The organisation submitted the writ petition on July 18 to the HC seeking its directive on the government to give Tk 1 crore as compensation to the families of each of the 11 victims who died when a train hit a microbus at a level crossing in Ullapara upazila of Sirajganj on July 15.
In the petition, Law and Life Foundation also requested the HC to order the respondents to pay Tk 10 lakh to each of the passengers who were injured in the accident and to direct the respondents to take necessary steps to close the country’s illegal level crossings and stop carrying passengers on the roof of trains.
The organisation also urged the HC to order the respondents to take necessary steps to deploy gatemen at all the level crossings across the country.
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