THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: VSSC-All Saints Road, one of the main roads in the city that links the airport, Veli Tourist Village, All Saints College, Vettucaud Church, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and Veli Railway Station continues to be in ruins. According to local residents, the situation is worse now with the Public Works Department (PWD) unloading road construction materials on the stretch more than a month ago. PWD is planning to execute a `2-crore project here.
Scattered metal lying on the road poses danger to two-wheelers and pedestrians. “It has been around 37 days since they dumped the metal for renovation works. Hundreds of employees working at VSSC use this road everyday. Accidents are also rampant,” said Hermi Lawrence, a resident.
The residents and Vettucaud Church authorities have submitted a memorandum to MLA Kadakampally Surendran and PWD Minister P A Mohamed Riyas seeking immediate intervention in the matter.
“The church festival is approaching. We have lodged multiple complaints with the PWD and the councillor. However, so far, there’s no positive result,” said Maglin Peter, a local resident and social activist. Thousands of people are expected to visit Vettucaud Church during the festival this month.
“Several accidents have happened since they dug up the road. The road was in better condition before. PWD authorities are delaying the work and using this stretch for dumping construction waste. Residents are protesting against this. We cannot allow the authorities to use the road as a worksite,” said an official of the Vettucaud Church.
An official of the PWD said the work will take off soon. “We had to revise the estimate of the project to add more components. The revised estimate has been sanctioned,” said the official. The official said a new drain will be constructed on the stretch to resolve the flooding issue in the area.
“There is an order from the State Human Rights Commission directing us to resolve the flooding issue. Hence, we had to revise the project estimates,” the official added.