The Thiruvalla Vigilance Council (TVC) has called upon Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to take necessary steps to ensure that the culvert at Pannikkuzhy, near Muthoor, on the MC Road is completed before October 31 itself.
In a statement issued here on Monday, council president P.D. George said the old culvert at Pannikkuzhy remained a bottleneck on the Thiruvalla-Changanacherry stretch of the MC Road since the past several years.
Work lagging behind
Though the Chief Minister had promised during the launch of the second phase of MC Road development under the Kerala State Transport Project that the old culvert would be replaced with a new one in the next six months itself, the work on the same was still lagging behind, Mr George alleged.
However, the District Collector’s intervention following a series of public complaints a month ago had made the KSTP authorities to state that the bridge would be partially opened for vehicular traffic by October 31.
But, the writing on the wall and the slow pace of work suggest that the approach roads to the culvert are unlikely to be completed in the next few months.
Hardships
This means hardships for the scores of vehicles carrying Sabarimala pilgrims during the Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season that begins in mid-November.
The beeline of vehicles trapped in the traffic block on either side of the narrow old culvert has been a regular eyesore on this stretch of the MC Road, Mr George alleged.
