Finally it seems that some interventions are being made at the official level to redeem the one-and-a-half-kilometre Manjunatha Rao Road, connecting Chakkorathukulam to East Hill, which has been remaining in a dilapidated state for the past two years. Responding to a report on the present plight of the road in the City Express, A Pradeep Kumar MLA has said that he would soon convene a meeting of the City Corporation and the Harbour Engineering Department officials to discuss and sort out issues regarding the maintenance of the road. The road named after the first Mayor of the city is in a bad condition after it was dug up for the laying of pipes for the sewerage project being implemented under the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP). Although the pipelaying work has been completed, the maintenance of the road remains a major bone of contention between the City Corporation and the Harbour Engineering Department. Both are passing the buck on the matter, with the Corporation maintaining that the responsibility of repairing the road falls with the Harbour Engineering Department, only for the latter to wash its hands by saying that it has no provision to repair the road. However, the MLA says that the present plight of the road is the result of the ‘unwanted intervention’ by the government. “Although the road belongs to the City Corporation, the same was included in the Coastal Development Project for refurbishment and the fund for the same was allocated to the Harbour Engineering Department a couple of years ago. The department had then awarded the work but was forced to halt it following commencement of the sewerage project. As the pipelaying work is over, the stalled maintenance should have been resumed.” “When I contacted the Harbour Engineering Department officials, they said that the state government had ordered the department to stop the works and terminated the work contract awarded. It is very unfortunate that the government took such a decision without consulting the local MLA,” says Pradeep Kumar. He however promised to intervene and sort out the issues. “A meeting of the officials concerned will be convened soon after discussing the matter with the Mayor. The work has already been awarded and it is for the Harbour Engineering Department to complete it. If it is not possible to carry out the work on the estimate prepared earlier, the same can be revised after consultations with the Corporation and the KSUDP,” the MLA said.