Activists of the CPI(M) on Wednesday halted Kochi metro construction works at Edappally saying that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had violated a part of the contract agreement to widen roads and maintain them.
The party members, attached to the Kalamassery area committee, staged a protest march to a metro worksite near here and asked the staff of the contractor agency, Larsen & Toubro, to stop the construction activities.
Sakir Hussain, a party member who led the protests, said it was clearly written in the contract that the roads would be widened to 7.5 metres a side and that the DMRC would maintain them in top condition. “Almost all the stretches where the metro works are progressing have become unmotorable. Serpentine traffic jams can be witnessed at anytime towards the Palarivattom and Kalamassery directions,” he said, adding that they would not allow the construction works to resume unless the roads were repaired.
The DMRC, meanwhile, attributed the deterioration of roads to the unexpected rain and assured that the roads would be repaired in a week’s time. “We now got two full days without rain (Sep 9, 10). If it doesn’t rain, we will be able to restore the roads within the subsequent three to four days,” said a DMRC official.
