"Certainly these measures are in larger public interest and therefore expeditious action in this regard is required to be taken," the HC noted and posted further hearing to August 12.The Bombay High Court on Thursday raised concerns over lack of safety measures to prevent objects falling from under-construction high-rise buildings, citing a recent incident in which an iron rod from under construction metro bridge fell and pierced a man’s head in an autorickshaw in Bhiwandi.The Court directed the BMC to provide guidelines of the expert committee for state government’s consideration and several planning authorities can implement the same across Maharashtra.On August 5, a long iron rod allegedly fell from the under-construction bridge on the Metro Line 5 (Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan), that pierced the head of the auto-rickshaw passenger in Bhiwandi area.A division bench of Justice Girish S Kulkarni and Arif S Doctor revived already disposed of petition by Lokhandwala Residency Towers Cooperative Housing Society related to the February, 2023 incident in which 2 persons were killed as the large cement block from 52nd floor of the nearby under construction project fell on them.The HC in 2023 had observed that it was ” deeply pained” by the said incident and expressed hope that “none of the high-rise constructions in the city of Mumbai should make people vulnerable and prone to such accidents, in which innocent people would get hurt or lose their lives.”The HC had observed that if “a right of a person to move freely” is threatened, it “would certainly amount to violation of their fundamental rights”The court, in “larger societal interest,” had then appointed an expert committee of architects, structural engineers and a senior technical officer to be nominated by BMC to formulate and implement safety norms. It had also directed that the state Urban Development Department (UDD) shall expeditiously act upon BMC’s proposal to implement such guidelines.Story continues below this adOn Thursday, the bench was informed about such a committee and measures suggested by it in respect of high-rise constructions using cranes and those vulnerable to public safety.The HC said that although it had disposed of the plea, its concern was “resurrected” due to the recent accident in Bhiwandi.“If our directions of such reports of the committee being circulated by the UDD were to reach all these municipal corporations and be implemented, the plight possibly would have been different. All these construction sites, as we see from the photograph and the news report, show that there is free access to public and traffic below the construction site,” the judges noted.They added, “And such an incident had taken place because adequate precautions were not taken to safeguard human lives by having measures to prevent objects falling from the high-rise construction.”Story continues below this adThe bench then directed BMC to place on record the concerned guidelines for state’s consideration so that they can be implemented by several civic planning authorities across Maharashtra and appropriate orders can be passed by the HC.“Certainly these measures are in larger public interest and therefore expeditious action in this regard is required to be taken,” the HC noted and posted further hearing to August 12. Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Bombay High CourtMumbai