Palarivattom flyover work comes to standstill

Quarry strike and snags in land acquisition process stall works

August 05, 2014 08:26 am | Updated 08:26 am IST - KOCHI

A string of cases filed by land owners has delayed acquisition of 25 cents of land for the flyover and another 30 cents for widening the Palarivattom-Kakkanad Road. Photo: K.K. Mustafah

A string of cases filed by land owners has delayed acquisition of 25 cents of land for the flyover and another 30 cents for widening the Palarivattom-Kakkanad Road. Photo: K.K. Mustafah

Ongoing quarry strike and delay in land acquisition have stalled Palarivattom flyover work.

“With crushed stones and manufactured sand (m-sand) not available, we had no other option but to call off the flyover’s piling work,” said a senior official of Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK).

According to the official, the focus is now on preparatory works to raise service roads to the level of the NH Bypass so that movement of vehicles is least disturbed when more parts of the NH are barricaded.

RBDCK has completed 27 piles since work began in June. The flyover is scheduled to be commissioned in December 2014, in keeping with the 18-month deadline.

Land acquisition woes A string of cases filed by land owners has delayed acquisition of 25 cents of land for the flyover and another 30 cents for widening Palarivattom-Kakkanad Road, which passes through the junction, into a four-lane road.

A source in the agency said a land owner had filed a case though they took care not to obstruct two gates through which he entered his compound. Similarly, the service road on the Vyttilla-Palarivattom Road hits a dead end because of opposition from a shop owner to surrender his land.

A few land owners are refusing to give up their land though they were promised Rs 25 lakh per cent. An amount of Rs. 16 crore of the flyover’s total project cost of Rs. 72.6 crore is for acquiring land.

Traffic snarls Though RBDCK restructured a few medians so that vehicles can cross the junction sans hassles, the agency’s delay in raising the service road and integrating it with the NH is causing confusion among motorists and pedestrians. They are vulnerable to accidents when vehicles from the NH enter and exit service roads on Palarivattom-Edappally stretch to escape traffic snarls.

An RBDCK official said that the agency would need another two months to raise service roads.

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