Innumerable roads maintained by the Kochi Corporation, the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and the Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA) in the city are ridden with potholes, making commuting a nightmare.
Not much effort was made to properly restore them during the summer months or in June-July when there was little rain. An agitation by contractors demanding that the Corporation clear long-pending dues made matters worse, with ill-maintained stretches witnessing traffic snarls and accidents.
The Ernakulam District Residents’ Associations Apex Council (EDRAAC) and several NGOs have been highlighting the shoddy condition of arterial corridors such as the Thammanam-Karnakodam stretch of the Thammanam-Pullepady Road, which the Corporation had assured would be restored before the monsoon. The condition of Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road, the sole arterial road maintained by the GCDA, is no better. Similarly, motorists and Vypeen-based NGOs have been aggrieved over the shoddy condition of GIDA-owned Goshree bridges and their approach roads.
Alarmed at frequent accidents on Kundannoor bridge that links Kundannoor Junction with Thevara, EDRAAC held a dharna near the bridge on Friday, to protest against the apathy of the Public Works department (NH wing) in repairing potholes on the 1.90-km-long structure. It was inaugurated by EDRAAC secretary D.G. Suresh, who decried the agency’s apathy despite a young two-wheeler rider getting killed in a recent accident on the bridge. Chairman of the Corporation’s town planning standing committee P.R. Reneesh was among those who spoke.
The situation is such that many busy roads owned by the Kochi Corporation, including those that take off eastward from the Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass and pass through vast residential areas, are in dilapidated condition, due to slack upkeep and delay in restoring them after being trenched for laying LPG pipelines.
The Kochi Corporation has not repaired gaping potholes on the Thammanam-Karnakodam stretch on the busy Thammanam-Pullepady road despite expiry of the deadline to repair it. | Photo Credit: H. VIBHU
A councillor who is a member of the civic agency’s public works standing committee had assured that all potholed corridors in his ward would be repaired within a day of the recent spate of rains. But little was done despite there being no rain in the city since Wednesday.
Mayor M. Anilkumar said most arterial roads under the Corporation, mainly in the central business district, were well maintained. “Roads in a few divisions have to be repaired, while Mullaserry Canal Road beside M.G. Road will be restored once the Irrigation department hands it over to the civic body. Aimed at preventive maintenance of roads, efforts are under way to procure a mobile pothole-filling unit, if needed, by availing Cochin Smart Mission Limited [CSML] funds,” he added.
Roads maintained by the PWD and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are relatively better off, barring at a few spots.
A campaigner for road safety, C.J. Johnson recently sent a letter to, among others, the Minister for Public Works, demanding speedy restoration of the congested junction beneath the Kochi metro corridor in front of St. Martin’s Church at Palarivattom, which was trenched by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) after a leak in the pipeline. “Motorists were having a harrowing time since neither the KWA nor the PWD was repairing the dilapidated portion which was holding up traffic from two arterial roads for well over a month. It was hardly a few hundred metres away, near Mamangalam, that a two-wheeler rider died after falling into a pothole that developed after the KWA trenched the road. On its part, the NHAI has not repaired potholed parts of the Edappally-Cheranalloor NH 66 corridor,” he said.
A PWD official said that agencies such as the KWA and the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) that trenched its roads were duty-bound to fully restore them, as per new norms. “Sadly, they fail to do so in most instances, endangering the life of road users.” He added that potholed parts of the Seaport-Airport Road would shortly be restored, since bituminous concrete (BC) overlay was being given to the corridor.
The road in front of St Martin’s Church, beneath Kochi Metro viaduct at Palarivattom, has not been restored fully after a leak in the pipeline, despite the PWD directing the KWA to restore it. | Photo Credit: H. VIBHU
Sources in GIDA attributed the delay in repairing the trio of Goshree bridges and their approach roads to no contractor bidding for the works, despite the PWD inviting tenders four times. They cited skyrocketing cost of bitumen and other materials as the reason. The fifth tender would be floated shortly for repair works estimated to cost ₹42 lakh, they said.
