The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) plans to start civil works in between Kadavanthra and Elamkulam on SA Road has been stalled because of a recent Vigilance case against Kerala Water Authority (KWA) officials who were relocating pipelines on the road.
“The Vigilance case has dealt a blow to our efforts to begin piling between Kadavanthra and Vyttila junctions. KWA officials awarded some works to a contractor without waiting for completion of paper works to speed up relocation of pipelines. The Vigilance case has in turn held up both KWA and metro works,” DMRC sources said.
Till now, metro works were suffering delay because of inordinate delay in land acquisition and lethargy by KWA, KSEB and telecom firms in relocating public utilities. Delay in kick-starting works on SA Road would affect the commissioning of metro’s first phase from Aluva to Pettah, they said.
Over a week ago, DMRC’s Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan had said the Aluva-Maharajas College Ground stretch would have to be considered as metro’s ‘reach one’, because of delay in land acquisition and other bottlenecks on MG Road, Jos Junction-Ernakulam Junction Railway Station Road, SA Road and Vyttila-Pettah Road.
Ongoing efforts to complete civil works on Maharajas Ground-Vyttila stretch by the time the metro is commissioned in June 2016, have been hampered by suspension of KWA’s works at many parts of SA Road following the Vigilance probe, metro sources said.
The ongoing probe has also affected works to level the portion of road dug up by KWA for pipe-laying. The resultant uneven and slushy portion has in turn worsened traffic snarls on SA Road.
