Metro stakeholders and civic agencies must proactively repair city roads that have suffered extensive damage due to the rains, said president of Ernakulam District Residents Associations Apex Council (EDRAAC) P. Rangadasa Prabhu.
Referring to accidents and traffic snarls that have become a daily occurrence in the city, he said that people must take officials and contractors of civic and metro agencies to task by filing private complaints before court. “Contractors deployed by DMRC have been paid additional amounts to ensure smooth traffic flow in the vicinity of metro works sites. This includes funds for urgent repair of bad roads and to clear drains and they are contractually obliged to ensure this,” said Prabhu.
A spokesperson of a contracting agency said that the firm is willing to repair potholes using cold mix bitumen, while areas that suffered extensive damage can be levelled using fast-setting concrete. “But traffic will have to be diverted for up to five hours after the rains,” he said.
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A senior KWA official said pipeline relocation might take up to three more months. “Our department does not give officials funds to temporarily fill badly-damaged roads, even if they cause snarls and accidents. Awarding even minor works is cumbersome and time-consuming,” he said.
Works standing committee chairperson of Kochi Corporation, Soumini Jain said that frequent movement of heavy machinery and vehicles for metro works is partly responsible for many arterial and side roads suffering extensive damage. On badly-damaged parts of S.A. Road, she said that KWA has not done even temporary restoration of the road, though Corporation had paid restoration fee for restoring the road after relocating pipelines.