Service roads flanking the Edappally-Aroor NH 47 Bypass in the city have become a haven for encroachers.
New waste dumping yards are cropping up each week and goods carriers parked haphazardly are causing accidents.
The service roads have also become virtually of no use to pedestrians because of constant water logging.
A walk from under the Vyttila railway over-bridge to Geetanjali Junction shows that most stretches of the service roads are waterlogged. Waste heaps have come up at several places. Corporation of Cochin workers stockpile household waste by the side of these roads.
If the National Highways Authority of India does not intervene in the matter, the service roads will be permanently occupied by encroachers, goods carriers and other vehicles, fears the president of Ernakulam District Residents’ Associations’ Apex Council (Edraac) P. Rangadasa Prabhu.
The council’s general secretary A. Ajitkumar alleged that though the issues confronting the residents along the service roads, including dumping of waste, had been pointed out, there was no response from the NHAI.
Dumping of waste constituted the biggest problem, he said. The recent Onam holidays made the situation the worst in recent memory. Continuous holidays early this week resulted in waste heaps growing along the road at several places, he said,
Food waste leaked on to the road spreading foul smell and making the roads sometimes unusable for pedestrians. The problem was at its worst opposite the Gold Souk, at Chakkarapparambu and Geetanjali Junction.
The heaping of waste by the roadside encouraged people to dump waste from their households along the road, said Mr. Ajitkumar.
