With less than two weeks left for the Attukal Pongala, the maintenance works of roads leading to the temple premises and adjacent areas are in their last phase.
The Public Works Department, which had identified 21 stretches for repair and renovation, is likely to complete the pending works by the end of the week. The Department had earlier set deadlines of February 15 and 20, but the difficulty in sourcing the required construction materials, coupled with the reluctance among contractors in taking up civil works, has resulted in the delay. The government had allocated ₹96 lakh for the works.
While the festival at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple is set to begin on Thursday, many thousands are expected to converge at the premises and roads leading to the temple on the Pongala day on March 2.
The renovation of the Manacaud-Attukal-Iranimuttom-Chiramukku road and the Killipalam-Attukal bund road using bituminous macadam and bituminous concrete (BM and BC) is currently under way.
According to official sources, the works were being undertaken in a manner that minimised disruption of traffic flow to a possible extent. While the tarring of a particular stretch was undertaken, vehicles were being regulated along the other stretch.
Two teams of workers have been roped in to ensure the tarring work continued until the late hours.
The delay in plugging leaks in the pipeline at certain points have also affected the ongoing works to a large extent. A leak that has been detected at Iranimuttom was yet to be fixed by the Kerala Water Authority, despite reminders. An official did not rule out the possibility of skipping the particular portion if the problem was not rectified within the next few days.
Across 31 wards
The 33 road repair works that were being undertaken by the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation across 31 wards were also expected to be completed within a week, according to Public Works Standing Committee chairperson S. Shafeera Beegum.
While an amount of ₹10 lakh had been earmarked for civil works that were taken up in the Attukal ward, around ₹5 lakh each has been allocated for the other areas, she said.
An office-bearer of the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple expressed optimism that the pending works would be completed well in time for the Attukal Pongala.
