The spat between government agencies has led to a large trench dug up to replace broken pipelines remaining uncovered even after two months of completion of the work at the Kumbalam toll plaza.
The agencies involved are the Kerala Water Authority and the National Highways Authority of India. One lane of the toll plaza remains unutilised because of the trench being kept open. The rush hours see long queues of vehicles in adjacent lanes and pedestrians are the worst affected since there is no way for them to walk through.
A KWA official said that while it was a pipeburst that had necessitated excavation of the deep trench to replace the old asbestos-cement pipeline with a ductile iron pipeline, once the work was completed, the NHAI did not take up the work of relaying the road.
