KOCHI: The heavy congestion witnessed along the route to Infopark has reignited the demand to widen the Infopark Road from the Civil Station junction in Kakkanad.
The narrow road and the rising traffic have forced IT professionals and residents to spend hours traversing the 4km stretch during peak hours.
The congestion, which has been a feature of the stretch for several years, worsened when several companies resumed offline operations, increasing the number of commuters. Resmi R, a civil engineer working at Infopark, said commuting to the office has become a herculean task.
“It’s disheartening to spend a significant chunk of our day stuck in traffic, leaving us stressed and fatigued. The situation seems to be worsening with each passing day,” she said. Commuters are pointing out a lack of infrastructure upgrades, which have failed to keep pace with the exponential growth of the tech sector in Kochi.“The number of people working in IT parks has almost crossed 1 lakh,” said Anish Panthalani, the state president of Progressive Techies.
“And there are other workers connected to the area. The road leading to Infopark was developed when it was a small area. Traffic congestion can’t be resolved unless the government takes the initiative to widen the Infopark Road.” He also mentioned that the state’s IT hub is deficient in public transport facilities during peak hours.
“While the government is promoting public transport on the one hand, it is turning a blind eye to certain sections on the other. It is difficult to get a bus to the city after 6pm. Because of the lackadaisical attitude, a majority of IT employees are forced to depend on their own vehicles. And that has created more congestion along the stretch,” Aneesh said.
Though the Kochi Metro is set to extend its network to Infopark in a couple of years, techies believe it won’t help ease congestion on the Infopark Road. “The government should take steps to widen the roads at the earliest. Several by-roads leading to Infopark should be developed to accommodate more vehicles. The MG Road-to-Infopark project is still hanging in the air, and it should be completed in emergency mode. At the same time, the water metro services should be extended to the Infopark campus,” said Shiyas, the Kochi unit secretary of Progressive Techies.