In January 2006, when Chief Minister Oommen Chandy slipped and fell in Davos, Switzerland, while attending the World Economic Forum, it hurt the residents of the island of Pizhala in ways they couldn’t have thought of then.
The Chief Minister injured his hip and underwent a surgery, forcing the Ernakulam district administration to put on hold the inauguration of works on a few projects that would have benefitted the Goshree islands, including work on the Moolampilly-Pizhala bridge.
The inauguration of work on the bridge was scheduled for January 31, 2006, at the St. Francis U.P. School premises on the island. More than seven years later, the more than 6,000 residents of the island continue to wait patiently for the bridge. Their only link to the world outside is a ferry service that operates between 5.30 a.m. and 10 p.m. It was hard for daily wage earners, office workers and students who have to put in more hours on mainland Ernakulam, said Aneesh, who works in a seafood processing company in Kochi.
The islanders also encounter difficulties while trying to take a sick person to a hospital on the mainland in the night hours.
For these reasons, Pizhala islanders had not forgetten Mr.Chandy’s fall, said E.R. Xavier, convenor of an action committee of islanders pressing for the bridge and related road development.
District Collector P.I. Sheikh Pareeth, who is also secretary of Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA), announced on Wednesday that the projects, Moolampilly-Pizhala and Moolampilly-Chathanadu bridges, had received administrative sanction. But the islanders have taken the announcement with a pinch of salt. They remember how invites were printed and distributed in 2006 for inauguration of the work before it was called off.
There may still be many a slip between cup and lip. But Kadamakkudy panchayat president Valsa Francis said this time people were fully determined to get what they wanted. In fact, they have decided to launch mass action after Onam in order to ensure that the authorities do not renege on their promise held out in Wednesday’s announcement.
The story of the Pizhala bridge goes back to the days of the trio of Goshree bridges that were opened on June 5, 2004. “We have been pressing for the bridge and road development on Pizhala island since then,” said Mr. Xavier.
Development work in seven panchayats under GIDA jurisdiction is met through funds generated by the authority through sale of land reclaimed primarily for building the Goshree bridges. A total of Rs. 333 crore had been set aside for these development activities, which includes a drinking water supply augmentation programme on the island of Vypeen. The Pizhala islanders said work on the bridge must be completed immediately as GIDA was running out of funds. The two bridges, announced on Wednesday, will cost over Rs.44 crore. The bridge work will have to get environmental clearance before it gets underway. The other projects awaiting the people of the Goshree area include the Pizhala-Kadamakkudy bridge, Kadamakkudy-Chathanadu bridge and the 22-metre Moolampilly-Chathanadu road, which is 5 km long.
