The Bombay High Court came down heavily on the Maharashtra government for failing to provide basic facilities like hospitals and good roads at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Raigad district. A division bench of Chief Justice N H Patil and Justice G S Kulkarni was last week hearing a public interest litigation filed by the UranSamajik Sanstha raising concerns about heavy vehicular traffic, lack of medical facilities as well as police patrolling at JNPT.

At present, according to the petition, there is only one rural hospital eight kilometres from JNPT, but it is not equipped to handle serious medical emergencies. The JNPT had earlier informed the court that it had recently entered into an agreement with Apollo Hospital and that, within a period of nine months, a full fledged trauma centre will start in the JNPT premises.