Public memory may be proverbially short but it is not that short enough to completely forget the 2010 local bodies’ poll when the poor condition of roads was the main election issue. And the then ruling front was routed at the elections.
It seems that local bodies and politicians have not learnt their lessons from the debacle.
With the campaign for local bodies election entering the final phase, the deteriorating condition of carriageways owing to lack of mandatory pre-monsoon maintenance work has started giving headache to many candidates and political parties.
Across the State, outgoing elected representatives are drawing flak for the poor condition of roads, footpath, and drains that have been battered by incessant rain and lack of maintenance. The High Court had intervened to carry out repair of roads before the commencement of the coming Sabarimala season.
Not just roads, voters are cornering many candidates and political parties over the absence of street lights and stray dog menace.
Relay work in the corridors developed under the City Road Improvement Project in the capital with a 15-year maintenance contract has also been hit. The PWD has under its jurisdiction around 23,314 km of roads across the State, while over 1.75 lakh km of roads are under the city Corporations, municipalities, and panchayats.
“We carried out one-time maintenance of selected city, rural, and village roads under local bodies after coming to power to overcome the poor condition of roads. This year also, we carried out repair work of roads shortlisted by legislators in their constituencies. It is the responsibility of local bodies to take care of the repair and upkeep of roads under them,” Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju said.
Chairman of the public works standing committee of Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation V.S. Padmakumar said roads were yet to emerge as a poll issue this time. “We had taken adequate precaution and carried out 75 per cent of repair works in the Corporation limits ahead of the election,” he said.
