KOCHI: The realisation of the Kochi Metro connectivity to Tripunithura has given a complete makeover to the stretch from Vyttila to Tripunithura railway station with the roads getting wider and a couple of old bridges being reconstructed. However, the residents are unhappy, as they want the KMRL (Kochi Metro Rail Ltd) to honour a couple of promises it made at the earliest.
These include an open air auditorium or minipark at the widened Pettah Junction and a foot overbridge (FoB), connecting the Tripunithura metro station with the railway station.
“The KMRL had promised to set up either an open air auditorium or a minipark at Pettah once it completed the Pettah-SN Junction section. It’s been two years since the section was opened, but the promise was not kept,” said A B Sabu of the Manaveeyam Cultural Centre, the former chairman of a standing committee of the Kochi corporation.
Meanwhile, the CPI is set to hold a protest demanding the development of the Pettah T-junction, where accidents are rising in the absence of a traffic island or signalling system.
“The authorities promised to redevelop the junction once the metro’s work on the stretch got over. However, nothing is being done even after the completion of the activities. The metro land there is currently lying unused. There is no median or traffic island at the junction where vehicles from three busy roads converge. Also, they have razed the bus waiting shed for metro construction and have not set up a waiting station for commuters yet. We’ll hold protest next week demanding redevelopment of the junction at the earliest,” said S Russel, CPI Maradu local committee member.
Representatives of the Manaveeyam Cultural Centre called on KMRL MD Lokanath Behera recently, who promised to look into it.
Meanwhile, the Tripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents Association (TRURA), an apex body of residents associations, demanded “timely” implementation of another promise by the KMRL – construction of a FoB connecting Tripunithura metro station with the railway station.
“The KMRL promised this while commissioning the SN Junction-Tripunithura railway station section. The FoB will be of great relief to many elderly citizens and also commuters arriving in trains with luggage. We were hoping the same will be implemented during the ongoing renovation of the Tripunithura railway station,” said TRURA convenor V C Jayendran.
This even as a railway spokesperson made it clear that the KMRL had mooted the FoB project and “it’s the metro people who have to implement the same”.
When contacted, a KMRL spokesperson said, “We’ve decided to keep it on hold until development works at Tripunithura railway station are over.”
However, Jayendran said the renovation works are at the finishing stage and there is no sign of construction of the FoB, which will connect the first floor of the metro station with the FoB at the railway station.
“They should implement it without further delay,” he said.