In view of the rising number of complaints over the reclamation of land for the Muttom yard, a monitoring committee comprising representatives of all the stakeholder agencies will hold an inspection at the project site on Wednesday.
“The committee, comprising the president of Choornikkara grama panchayat, Chairmen of Aluva and Kalamassery municipalities and representatives of the KMRL and DMRC will inspect the Chavarpadam and Kattappadam paddy fields and identify the canals and other water bodies accommodating the water flowing into the low-lying area," said District Collector M.G. Rajamanickam. A decision in this regard was taken during a meeting convened by the district administration at Aluva Palace on Tuesday.
The committee will also interact with residents of the region, assess the impacts of land filling operations on the project site and prepare a report on their findings.
Based on the report, the decisions with regard to making any changes in the metro yard master plan would be considered. “However, works on the project will continue without any disruption in the meanwhile," the official held, adding that options of establishing an alternative canal system in the area was also under active consideration of the authorities.
The elected representatives of Choornikkara panchayat, who attended the meeting in Aluva raised the complaint that the DMRC and KMRL were moving ahead with the plans of their own, without taking the local body into consideration. “For instance, the survey on the project site conducted by the metro authority had been carried out without informing the local residents or even the local panchayat council," claimed K.K. Sivanandan, a member of the Choornikkara panchayat.
According to local residents, reclamation of land at Chavarpadam, site for the metro yard, is posing a threat to the natural drainage system connecting the low-lying area with river Periyar. The land filling operations have considerably shrunk the size of drainages while the Punchathodu Periyar Valley canal, a major water body in the locality, has been levelled partially, resulting in an artificial flooding during the monsoon, they point out.
Meanwhile, regular transporting of raw materials to DMRC’s casting yard at HMT land in Kalamassery will resume after three days, since the PWD has agreed to complete ongoing concrete topping of HMT Road within that period.
The decision was taken following a joint inspection of the road works by metro stakeholders and PWD officials on Tuesday. PWD was restricting traffic along HMT Road during the past week, in view of the road works. This gave rise to concerns that DMRC’s girder launch in the Aluva-Palarivattom alignment of Kochi Metro may get delayed. DMRC was keen to launch a few dozen girders in the NH stretch before the onset of monsoon.
