A reception committee with Mayor Tony Chammany as the president and District Collector P I Sheikh Pareeth as general convener was formed on Monday to make the launch of the construction work of the Kochi Metro Rail a grand event.
A committee comprising MLAs from the district will coordinate the activities in connection with the launch of the work.
The official ceremony in connection with the launch of the construction work will be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium on June 7 .
A preliminary meeting of the committee was held here on Monday. Apart from the Mayor and the Collector, MLAs Benny Behnan, Dominic Presentation, Hibi Eden, Anwar Sadath, Loudy Louis and GCDA chairman N Venugopal attended the meeting.
The organisers are planning to invite people from all walks of life for the function. Meanwhile, the district administration will resume the land filling works at Muttam, where the proposed yard for the Kochi Metro Rail will be set up.
The land filling work came to a standstill last Saturday owing to the protest raised by the locals over the delay in paying the compensation for the land surrendered. The district collector, on Monday, held a meeting with the land owners and action council members and assured them that the cheques for the acquired land will be handed over to the respective owners soon. Later, the action council withdrew the protest.
Metro by 2016
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is aiming to make the Kochi Metro operational by 2016, one year ahead of the expected time of completion, said P Sreeram, Project Director. Addressing an interactive session with the representatives of local bodies and the general public at the conference hall of the the Aluva Municipal Office, Sreeram dispelled the doubts regarding the Metro work.
Answering some of the questions raised by the representatives of residents associations, he detailed how piling work would be done without hindering the traffic, and how debris would be cleared.
Sreeram said utilities in the vicinity of the Metro line, which are likely to be affected will be shifted. Trees infringing the planned routes will also be cut. Most of the work would be done during night to minimise the trouble for commuters. The meeting was attended by officials of the municipality, the police and members of various residents associations.