Protest is mounting against the Kochi Corporation for not taking proactive measures to extend the Thammanam-Pullepady Road to Chitoor Road, and for not widening bottlenecked areas along the stretch, despite repeated interventions by the High Court of Kerala and agitations by people who surrendered their land free of cost.
The proposal to extend the road to Padma Junction on M.G. Road and upto Chakkaraparambu on Palarivattom-Vyttila NH Bypass was mooted over a decade ago. But little has happened, despite the expiry of numerous deadlines.
The High Court had recently directed the State Government to complete the project within a year. It also ordered that a meeting of stakeholders be convened within two months, to finalise the schedule to complete it and to pump in sufficient funds.
It directed the State to complete the project with the assistance and cooperation of Kochi Corporation, Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), within a year.
The Corporation did little to extend or widen the road, despite numerous people handing over land free of cost over two decades ago, said Jayasankar P.S., an office bearer of Thammanam-Pullepady Road Action Council. He said he had given consent to the civic body to acquire 13 cents of his land so that the road could directly reach Chitoor Road from the western end of Pullepady overbridge.
Land acquisition
“The land has not been acquired so far. Most other people too are willing to surrender their land spread over a 200-m reach, for the extension. We hope the civic body takes proactive measures, since the 3-km road has tremendous potential to decongest both S.A. Road and Banerjee Road.”
Very few people have been actively pursuing the road’s development, barring P.T. Thomas, MLA, he said. From Chakkaraparambu, the road can be extended even up to Infopark. Little has happened, although Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac announced here in December 2017 that funds would be allotted for the PWD to take over the road and develop it. Leave alone a 22-metre-wide four-lane road, urgent steps must be taken to at least temporarily develop it into a full-fledged two-lane road, said Mr. Jayasankar.
Availability of funds
Sources in the Kochi Corporation said the State Government must allot adequate funds to develop the road, since Kochi did not get its share of funds like Thiruvananthapuram did under the City Roads Improvement Project (CRIP).
As per an assessment, a total of over four hectares of land is needed for four-laning the east-west corridor. A total of 1.9 hectares was surrendered free of cost by landowners.
