KOCHI: The construction work of Pachalam Railway Over Bridge (ROB) will resume on Wednesday. At a high level meeting convened by the District Collector M G Rajamanickam here on Monday, which was attended by civic administrators, it was decided to restart the work which had come to a standstill two months back.
At the meeting it was also decided to seek the help of the police force, if necessary, to provide a safe environment for the construction workers at Pachalam ROB.
“We have asked the city police commissioner to provide necessary security cover to the construction site and also for the people working here. The work will not be disrupted and steps will be taken to complete it in the right time,” M G Rajamanickam said.
Police officials said that around 20 policemen from AR camp will be deployed at the site of construction. If the protesters disrupt the work, more number of policemen from AR camp will be deployed to remove the protesters.
“The authorities have taken all sections of people in confidence. We hope that the work will not disrupted and no law and order issues will arise,” police officials said.
The work which began by March this year stopped midway due to opposition of a group of locals. However, Kerala High Court, later, issued an order asking DMRC to complete the work within six months. DMRC was unable to carryout the work as it was being frequently disrupted by a group of protesters demanding speedy distribution of the compensation package to those who had surrendered their land for the project.
Pachalam Janakiya Samara Samithi had also launched a protest against the project demanding that it should be implemented as per the original plan, in which a wider bridge was planned instead of the present one which has a width of only 10 meters.
They also said that the present design will affect the functioning of a temple close to the ROB. However, the officials concerned assured the district authorities at a meeting convened by District Collector that the present alignment will not affect the temple.