Subway project: Corporation puts Railways in the dock

The Corporation on Sunday pointed fingers at the apathy of Railways for not solving the issues related to Makkamparambu subway.
Subway project: Corporation puts Railways in the dock

The Corporation on Sunday pointed fingers at the apathy of Railways for not solving the issues related to Makkamparambu subway.

Mayor Tony Chammany said in a statement that the Makkamparambu subway project was fully implemented by the Railways.

“The Corporation has only allotted the funds for the project. The construction was not carried out in a scientific manner and the responsibility to rectify the technical snags is vested with Railways. We were constantly demanding the railway divisional manager to take steps in this regard, but to no avail,” the Mayor said.

The Corporation has also convened several meetings with the Railway officials to chalk out a solution. But the decision taken at the meetings were not implemented, he alleged.

The Mayor said that after the present Council took charge, a total of `80 lakh has been spent for the works.

An amount of `20 lakh was allocated from Union Minister K V Thomas’ fund to construct the ramp of the subway; another `14 lakh was allotted under the Plan Fund to widen the approach roads and the MLA Fund was used for concreting the road.

Meanwhile, P L Ashok Kumar, Area Manager, Railways, Ernakulam, denied the allegations and said that the Corporation is yet to pay the entire amount to the Railways.

“The total project cost for the Makkamparambu subway was estimated at `2.25 crore. However, there are three lines above the subway out of which two are the Up and down directions of the Railways. The third is the Vallarpadam line and the responsibility of rectification of  the Sub Way  below that line lies with  RVNL. The Corporation so far has paid only Rs 1.75 crore and Railways  will not be able to undertake the repair works if they are not making the full payment,” he said.

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