KOCHI: Barely a week after Kerala Water Authority (KWA) finished the trenching work of the Ravipuram-Valanjambalam Road, the authority has once again dug up the road without taking prior permission from the civic body. Corporation officials noticed the new trenching work along the stretch on Friday when they came to inspect the road ahead of tarring work.
“It was last week the KWA handed over a letter to the corporation on the trenching activities on the road. As per the letter, the work along Ravipuram-Valanjambalam stretch was completed. But when corporation officials inspected the area, they found new trenching work taking place. As per the rule, KWA has to take prior permission from the Corporation to carry out trenching work. It is crystal clear that the work being carried out by KWA failed to meet the basic standard,” said Mayor Soumini Jain.
Last week, KWA Deputy chief engineer informed the Mayor that August 28 was the deadline to complete the pipe-laying and interconnection work in the city. As per the assurance, the work along Pandit Karuppan Road has to be completed by August 23 and the restoration of other major roads by August 28. The Mayor also said the Corporation was answerable to the public for the back-to-back digging of the road.
“This is not the first time that KWA is carrying out such an activity. We have already informed them about illegal trenching. A written explanation has been sought from the chief engineer in this regard. Based on that, further action will be initiated. A review meeting is to be convened on August 28 as the deadline to hand over the road ends on the same day,” said the Mayor.
Soumini and Congress leaders had gheraoed the Kerala Water Authority chief engineer’s office on Hospital Road after several roads became non-motorable following the KWA’s failure to restore the roads which were dug up to lay pipes. “We have already finished the pipe-laying work from Ravipuram to Valanjambalam. A leak was detected at the area owing to pressure. The road was dug up again to plug it. Since the tarring work was not done by the civic body, we initiated maintenance work,” said a KWA official.