The State government’s delay in sanctioning ₹100 crore for the preparatory works of Kochi metro’s 11.2-km Kakkanad extension has brought widening of the Palarivattom-Collectorate Junction corridor to a near standstill.
The resultant delay in completing drains and shifting of utility cables and debris strewn on both sides of the narrow corridor has worsened traffic snarls on the Civil Line Road that links the city with the Collectorate, Infopark, special economic zones and sprawling residential colonies along the corridor. Even permanent and semi-permanent encroachments in many places have not been removed, contrary to the assurance that they would be cleared prior to developing the stretch into a 22-metre-wide one.
Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) sources said almost 40% of the already acquired portion had been widened. This works out to 15% of the area needed in the 4.5-km-long stretch from St. Martin’s Church Junction in Palarivattom to Kunnumpuram.
About 50% of the work to widen the 2.5-km stretch between Collectorate Junction and the entry to Infopark is over. A sum of ₹100 crore is being awaited for compensating landowners and to widen the rest of the corridor. A meeting of the State Cabinet that was held earlier this week discussed the matter. “We hope to obtain the funds shortly,” said the sources.
Meanwhile, the Ernakulam District Residents’ Associations Apex Council (EDRAAC), traders’ organisations, and others reiterated their demand that KMRL develop alternative roads to divert traffic when more areas of Civil Line Road are barricaded for the metro extension’s preparatory works and when piling begins for metro pillars. “The delay in diverting a section of vehicles through alternative roads has resulted in traffic snarls worsening on the yet-to-be-widened Civil Line Road,” said D.G. Suresh, district secretary of EDRAAC. “KMRL and the district administration must apprise the government of the dire need to provide alternative roads to divert vehicles. Such an arrangement [in which alternative roads were developed and new overbridges built] had helped lessen chaos in the city when the metro’s Aluva-Pettah Phase One works were under way,” he said.
The Vennala regional secretary of EDRAAC, Krishnakumar K.B., cited the urgent need to clear encroachments from, among other places, Alinchuvadu Junction and Vennala High School Junction to enable smooth flow of vehicles that would be diverted when metro works would begin. “The residents’ apex council had submitted a memorandum in this regard two months ago to the Public Works Minister. This was passed on to PWD officials concerned and Revenue officials are expected to inspect such bottlenecked and encroached upon locations, to widen them,” he said.
