The ducts will also avoid duplication of civil works for various essential public services, the PIL said
Hearing a public interest litigation, the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Centre asking should common utility ducts be laid along highways to avoid re-digging. “Good idea. We issue a notice. Let the government respond in four weeks,” Chief Justice SA Bobde remarked, in response to the petition filed by Bhubaneswar resident Haripriya Patel.
A utility duct is a passage built underground or above ground that houses utility lines for electricity, water supply, sewer functions, and communication lines like optical fibre, telephone cables, cable television etc.
“Authorities must provide for common utility corridors along the highways for all utilities in the construction plan of large infrastructure,” the petition says.
Common ducts will avoid perennial maintenance work on highways because of re-digging by several departments to reach the lines, the petition said, adding they will also prevent accidents leading to deaths.
They will also avoid duplication of civil works for various essential public services, thus saving public funds. They will also result in real-time highway traffic management and uninterrupted telecom networks.
The proposal for common utility ducts has been under consideration since 2002, but yet to be approved due to lack of coordination between government ministries, the PIL added.
In 2016, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had issued guidelines to make construction of utility ducts mandatory in highway projects.
The petitioner also seeks the implementation of the 2016 guidelines.