The Delhi high court on Thursday directed the city government’s transport department to retain, till its final order, the arrangement that allowed plying of all vehicles in the lane reserved for buses on the BRT corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand Hospital in south Delhi.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw asked the government to allow all vehicles to ply on the lane reserved for buses on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor till it passes an order on a PIL that sought opening of the corridor to all vehicles for smooth traffic movement.
“Let it be re-opened. The transport department is directed to continue with the same arrangement which was made during the trial run,” said the bench. The court’s direction came on a fresh application by an NGO, Nyay Bhoomi, filed on Wednesday for modification of the court’s earlier order.
The trial run was conducted from May 8 to 16, and after the CRRI submitted an interim report, the court left to it to decide if the arrangement should continue as it had facilitated smoother flow of traffic during the period.
The CRRI official present in the court on Thursday informed the bench that “during the trial run traffic was smoother than earlier arrangement”.
The CRRI will submit its final report on July 12. Referring to the interim report of the institute, the NGO said that the experts had also given their nod to continuing the trial-run arrangement.
“The concept plan received excellent response from the travelling public as well as appreciation by print and electronic media,” said the CRRI report.