KOCHI: With Kochi Corporation receiving flak from different quarters for the dismal condition of major roads in the city, which have made them a death trap for commuters, the Mayor along with Congress leaders gheraoed the Kerala Water Authority chief engineer’s office at Hospital Road on Monday in protest against the latter’s lackadaisical attitude to complete the pipe-laying and interconnection work in the city.
According to Mayor Soumini Jain, the delay by KWA resulted in the sad state of roads. “Several roads in the city are non-motorable as KWA has failed to restore the trenches which were dug up for laying pipelines. The roads such as Pandit Karuppan Road, Thammanam-Pullepady road, Subash Chandrabose road, Indira Gandhi Hospital road, Subhash Bose road and Ravipuram road have turned a death trap.
Though KWA authorities had assured us to complete the pipe-laying work by August 7, it failed to complete the task. If KWA had carried out the work in a time-bound manner, the tarring work would have been done before the monsoon,” said the Mayor while holding the protest at the KWA office. The Mayor also alleged since KWA is the implementing agency for the Centre’s AMRUT scheme for laying pipelines, the city failed to tap the benefits of several central schemes.
Though the protest was initially started by Mayor Soumini Jain along with former Mayor Tony Chammany, MP Hibi Eden a nd Deputy Mayor T J Vinod later joined the sit-in protest. Though the KWA Deputy Chief Engineer P Gireesan was not ready to hold a discussion at first, the MP’s involvement forced the officer to agree to hold a discussion.
The Deputy Chief Engineer set August 28 as the deadline to complete the pipe-laying and interconnection work. As per the assurance, the work along Pandit Karuppan Road will be completed by August 23 and the restoration of other major roads will be completed by August 28. The KWA officials also said the GCDA is yet to give the permission to dig up the KK Road.
“A review meeting under the Mayor will be convened on August 29. After handing over the road to the corporation, the re-tarring job would be started on the next day itself. If KWA fails to finish the work within the deadline, we will initiate strong protest measures,” said Hibi after the meeting.
MP joins protest
Though the protest was initially started by Mayor Soumini Jain along with former Mayor Tony Chammany, MP Hibi Eden and Deputy Mayor T J Vinod later joined the protest.
The Mayor alleged since KWA is the implementing agency for the Centre’s AMRUT scheme for laying pipelines, the city failed to tap the benefits of several central schemes.