KOCHI: The dust is yet to settle over the controversies surrounding the construction of the Pachalam Railway Over Bridge (RoB).
After the protest staged by the traders in the area, the action council for the Pachalam RoB has warned of intensifying the protest if the government did not address the issues related to the construction of the RoB.
The construction of the ROB was suspended recently, owing to protests against the delay in implementing the rehabilitation programme. The traders had taken the protests to streets, and the district administration was forced to convene a meeting, at which it was decided to resume the work as the authorities agreed to look into the various proposals for rehabilitation.
The action council has urged the authorities to implement the proposals for rehabilitation, immediately. The action council said it did not want to stop the construction of the ROB again.
“Though the construction of the RoB was started on March 4 only 25 per cent of the work has been completed. We want the DMRC, the district administration and the civic body to implement the rehabilitation package as early as possible, and also to complete the project on time,” said action council vice-president V S Somanathan.
Only the landowners who surrendered land for the project have been compensated.
Though the Metro Rail authorities had admitted that 22 shops needed to be demolished for the project no programme has been charted out to compensate the traders.