KOCHI: Roads in the city are in a bad condition, with potholes, loose tiles and scattered waste making life difficult for commuters. Local residents say the authorities keep turning a blind eye to these problems.
“The authorities register complaints only after repeated requests. They do some patchwork on the potholed roads. They will be back to worse condition after three to six months,” says K Ravi, who commutes daily on his motorcycle.
Going around the city, one can find that many roads — Thammanam-Pullepady, Kaloor-Kathrikadavu road, Vytilla-Mathoor, old NH 47 at Vathuruthy and many bylanes — are in a bad condition. Yet, the authorities refuse to acknowledge it, say residents.
After raising several complaints to the Kochi corporation regarding the potholes on the Chittoor Road in front of Mymoon cinema hall, the authorities repaired the stretch.
“Patchwork is not the right thing to do. The condition of several roads in the city is pathetic. We need a permanent solution. The authorities should make sure that the bitumen laid on roads lasts for a certain period of time. We must have a minimum guarantee for it,” said social activist and resident Ranjit Thampy.
“The authorities are not ready to address the problems scientifically. Every 3-6 months, the same issue pops up. Instead of scraping the top layer and then laying fresh bitumen, the authorities finish the work for the sake of doing it by just filling the potholes,” said Ranjit.
City roads develop potholes faster, mainly due to bad soil conditions. “Instant repair of potholes using cold bitumen is one of the smartest ways to deal with the issue,” said S Gopakumar, architect and president of Better Kochi Response Group (BKRG). “We have done live demonstrations on using cold bitumen before the corporation mayor and officials of GCDA and PWD. But no action has been taken so far,” he said. Mayor M Anilkumar said most roads are in good shape.
“Work on many roads got delayed due to rain. But the condition of majority of the roads — MG Road, Shanmugham Road, Banerji Road, etc — is good. The road near Mymoon cinema was repaired two days ago. The corporation is taking steps to improve the condition of all roads,” the mayor said. “The engineers under the corporation have been directed to do patchwork on damaged roads in the city after the rain,” he added. On using cold bitumen for road works, the mayor said PWD has a process to do the work on the roads.