Beautify roads leading to Ajanta and Ellora Caves

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad:

The Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice Ravindra Ghughe and Justice Sanjay Deshmukh applauded the efforts being taken by the local administration to facelift the city and undertake the task of beautifying the compound walls, dividers, traffic islands and flyovers, inside the city through paintings, in connection with the visit of the G20 delegation.

However, if the same paintings are done on the roads leading to Ellora and Ajanta Caves then it will provide a pleasant experience to the tourists and think over it positively, stressed the bench. The next hearing on the petition will be held on February 21.

It may be noted that High Court has filed a ‘suo moto’ petition taking cognizance of a news report published highlighting a tweet made by Thailand’s ambassador to give momentum to tourism in the region. It was brought to the notice of the court the inconvenience faced by the tourists when they get stuck in traffic congestion due to encroachments while entering the city (from Jalgaon) through Harsul Road. Accordingly, the assistant government pleader Sujit Karlekar, on behalf of the local administration, assured the court that in the next 10 days the local administration will remove the encroachments from the Harsul vicinity and also acquire private properties by adopting legal procedure and will give due compensation to the property-owner from the government fund.

An annexure of possible suggestions addressed to the administration and Department of Tourism for the development of Ajanta- Ellora roads was filed along with the petition. It includes the beautification of traffic islands at different places on Ajanta and Ellora roads, and attractive information boards highlighting the importance of the heritage sites. Taking cognizance of the suggestions submitted by Adv. Chaitanya Dharurkar, the bench suggested the administration should think about them positively. The bench also opined to give credit to the artists recreating paintings on the compound walls, traffic islands, dividers and flyovers for their valuable contribution to beautifying the city.