The High Court on Tuesday directed the agencies concerned of the government to take immediate necessary steps to remove all the obstructions from the roads and highways, including standing vehicles, mini vehicles and marketplaces, that bar free and smooth movement of people and vehicles.
The court asked the home secretary, local government secretary and Road Transport and Highways Division secretary to comply with the directive and submit a report concerning this within next three months.
The High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed seeking its directive regarding the issue.
Supreme Court lawyer SM Badrul Islam filed the writ petition as a public interest litigation.
Lawyer M Sarwar Hossain appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the writ petitioner while Deputy Attorney General Tushar Kanti Roy represented the state.
The BRT Project for 20.5 km distance from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Joydevpur in Gazipur was started in 2012.
The project was scheduled to be completed by 2016. However, the project has not been completed although 11 years have already elapsed.
The government is planning to complete the project, whose duration has been extended several times, by June this year.
Supreme Court lawyer SM Badrul Islam filed the writ petition challenging inaction of the government bodies about completion of the BRT project within the specified time.
After hearing the petition, the HC also issued a rule on the respondents to explain in four weeks as to why their inaction in completion of the BRT Project upon their legal mandates as well as removing marketplaces on the Gazipur-Mymensingh highway should not be declared illegal.
Apart from this, the HC also asked the project director of the BRT Project to take immediate steps to remove scattered project equipment, unusual garbage and unauthorised vehicles from four points of Gazipur.
According to the Highways Act, 2021, there is no scope for construction of any kind of structure, including market stalls, on highways or within its control line.
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