Danger lurks on city roads as gaping potholes remain submerged

Safety of commuters, including schoolchildren, at risk; traffic snarls in many areas

Rainy days ahead: Students coming out of a school when the city witnessed moderate downpour on Monday.

Most roads in the city and its immediate suburbs witnessed maddening traffic snarls on Monday mainly due to the inordinate delay by the Kochi Corporation and the Public Works Department (PWD) in temporarily restoring or resurfacing areas that were trenched for laying water pipelines and power cables.

A few dozen accidents too occurred after unwary two-wheeler riders and other motorists drove into deep potholes, which remained submerged in flooding caused by rains. Police personnel had a harrowing time managing traffic since the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) had left open many trenches it dug for pipeline work.

Serpentine traffic snarls were witnessed in most parts of the city due to bad condition of roads and people venturing out in cars, said a traffic police official. “The situation will get worse unless KWA and KSEB fill the trenches up to road level. The safety of commuters, including that of hundreds of schoolgoing children, is at stake. On their part, the Kochi Corporation and PWD, which collected road-restoration fee many months ago from these two agencies, must have awarded tenders for repairs during summer months to at least temporarily restore roads. The police have limitations in managing traffic through such shabby roads,” he said.

Corruption alleged

The Corporation and PWD have not learnt anything from the unprecedented floods that lashed Kerala in August 2018. The stalemate over road-repair works and cleaning of clogged drains could have been prevented if the two agencies had awarded works prior to the model code of conduct for polls taking effect in March, said K.A. Francis, district coordinator, Residents’ Associations and Anti-Corruption Movement.

“This would have enabled at least temporary restoration of dug-up and potholed roads. The agencies did not do the mandatory pre-monsoon tidying of roads and drains. This reeks of underlying corruption since there is no proper auditing of special funds allotted when there is public outrage over the pathetic condition of roads.” He expressed outrage at neither the State government nor the district administration issuing warning to departments to speed up repair works. M.R. Chandran Pillai, president of Kerala LSGD Contractors Federation, spoke of how contractors are wary of taking up the Corporation’s road-repair works since over 250 of their bills are pending with the civic agency during the past two years.

Rajesh Nair, convener of MG Road Merchants Association, lashed out at the Corporation for its alleged ineptitude in clearing drains. “That civic agency has not taken prompt, precautionary action. They must wake up from their slumber, so that road users and traders are not inconvenienced,” he said.