KOCHI: Despite interventions by Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, the district collector, and heads of several panchayats, the nearly 18-km-long Container Road remains at the receiving end of a ‘power’ struggle between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).
Though there are over 1,100 streetlight poles installed along the stretch, they have not been powered up due to the ongoing tiff between the two agencies.
Now, local bodies, frustrated by ‘bureaucratic back-and-forth’, have decided to escalate the matter. “It has been a month since the last joint meeting, but we are still yet to see action on the ground,” Kadamakudy panchayat president M S Antony told TNIE.
He said residents of two panchayats — Kadamakudy and Cheranalloor — are planning a mass protest march to the KSEB office, demanding immediate electrification of the streetlights. “Public safety cannot wait for departments to settle their papers, their disputes.”
A KSEB official maintained that the matter of streetlights falls under the purview of the NHAI and that the state board’s role was limited to facilitating their electrification.
But the fact is this would require two additional transformers, so as not to disrupt power supply to nearly 4,000 houses on the stretch. However, for this, sections of the newly-laid road will have to be dug up.
When this was revealed at a meeting convened at the behest of the MP and chaired by the collector, many criticised the power utility for not carrying out the work during the road’s one-and-half year-long upgradation.
Meanwhile, the local NHAI division continues to trade paperwork with KSEB over the hefty labour charge cited by the latter, which has emerged as another point of contention.
With no clear timeline in place for a resolution, Container Road, which handles close to 40,000 vehicles daily, continues to pose risks after sunset.
In the cover of darkness, illegal waste dumping, stray dog menace and even antisocial activities have flourished on this accident-prone stretch, local residents pointed out.
Illegal activities in the cover of the dark
With no clear timeline in place for a resolution, Container Road, continues to pose risks after sunset. In the cover of darkness, illegal waste dumping, stray dog menace and even antisocial activities have flourished on this accident-prone stretch, local residents pointed out