THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In order to improve the credibility of Public Works Department engineers among the general public, the State has decided to set up road protection committees with local participation.
The committees, being set up for every 15-20 km radius of roads under the chairmanship of an assistant executive engineer, will consist of Circle Inspector of police, panchayat secretary, ward members, village officers, select NGOs and residential association representatives.
The 15-member committee will have multitudinous roles to play such as the protection of roads from encroachments, unauthorised digging of roads and parking of vehicles, ensuring timely maintenance, beautification of roads by planting trees and nurturing them as part of the social forestry and sensitising the local community about the needs and ways of the protection of roads.
The Kerala Highway Protection Act, 1999, vests formidable powers on the road authorities for the protection, development and prevention of encroachment in the highways and use of the highways for purposes which will adversely affect the safety of traffic along them in the State. But the powers mostly remain in papers as in most cases, the authorities bow to pressure from vested interest groups and are forced to desist from implementing the law.
If implemented in its true sense, the Act would check any unauthorised erection of a building on, over or overhanging the highways, occupation of highways for stacking building materials, for parking automobiles, exhibiting articles for sale and erecting tents, pandals, hoarding, statues, monuments and other similar structures. It would also check littering along the roadsides and stacking the wastes in the sewage canals along the roads hindering the free flow of water.
“Despite these powers, the highway authorities fail to effectively implement the rules laid out under this Act mostly due to the local resistance.
For example, many-a-times the opposition from the part of traders prevent the authorities from clearing unauthorised parking on the roads”, sources said.
The Government believes that the initiative will also help in bringing transparency in the working of the road engineers as their activities will be constantly scrutinised by the public.
“Also, the services of the committee can be utilised by the local self- governments for the maintenance of the panchayat roads,” sources said.
Though the proposal was mooted about four months back under the Community Participatory Development Programme, it remained shelved as the PWD ministers kept changing.
The proposal would soon be placed for the consideration of the Cabinet for the approval and giving statutory powers to the committee.
