THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The hardships of Kochiites will continue till the Supreme Court decides its stance on the future of the Palarivattom flyover, said Public Works Minister G Sudhakaran. Replying to the submission of P T Thomas, MLA, who sought an early decision on reopening the flyover, during zero hour in the assembly, the minister said the state government has got two expert opinions. One suggested to reinforce the flyover. But even after reinforcement, the flyover will only have a life of 10 years.
The report submitted by ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan suggested constructing a new bridge by retaining the basement of the existing flyover. If that is done, the flyover will have a life of around 100 years. So the state government had entrusted the DMRC to go ahead with its proposal three months ago. But a batch of petitions were filed in the High Court challenging the decision of the state government.
Though the High Court has directed to hold a load test of the flyover, the IIT report, the report submitted by Sreedharan, the report of the committee deputed by the state government and the Indian Roads
Congress (IRC) rules do not favour a load test as it is construed as dangerous considering the precarious situation of the flyover. Following this, the state government had approached the Supreme Court.
If there were no petitions filed by the contractor and his assistants, the work on the bridge could have been completed in just nine months. Now the state government can go ahead only after the Supreme Court issues an order on the issue, he said. Earlier, Thomas had requested the minister not to delay action on the issue anticipating local body and assembly polls.