SC allows DDA to widen Ridge road for CAPF hospital

The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the decks for the central armed paramilitary forces to fully access a multi-specialty hospital in south Delhi, granting permission to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to widen a road in the Southern Ridge near Chhattarpur to provide access to the hospital, and observing that “anything for the benefit of paramilitary forces should not be stopped”.

- Abraham Thomas

Abench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant allowed the DDA’s application seeking diversion of 2.97 hectares of forest land for road construction, completion of road work on 0.79 hectares of morphological ridge, felling of 152 trees, and translocation of more than 2,500 tree saplings and shrubs planted along the road.

The DDA informed the court that the Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFIMS) is currently providing ‘outpatient department (OPD) services, but full-fledged functioning is not possible until the access road is widened to 30 metres to enable smooth movement of ambulances and patients.