KASARGOD/KOZHIKODE: Deadlines and government projects seldom go together in Kerala. Be it a bridge, road or a hospital block, most projects - even when completed - await a ‘solemn inauguration’ by a minister. Many a time, getting a convenient date proves a herculean task. Also stuck in limbo are bridges sans approach roads, with delay in land acquisition due to official apathy throwing a spanner in the works. Express examines
The past few weeks have seen hectic finishing work on the Kottappuram-Achanthurathi bridge across the Thejaswini River in Nileswaram in Kasargod. Though the project was running five years late, the renewed pace has not baffled people. They knew the bridge was getting ready for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The bridge connects Nileswaram town and Cheruvathur panchayat and opens up an alternative road to Payyannur, other than the winding national highway. And people have been waiting for the bridge for more than a decade. The foundation stone was laid on February 13, 2010, by the then Transport Minister P J Joseph. Five months later, the government’s Kerala State Construction Corporation began the work on August 7 with a 30-month deadline.
In the past five years, several deadlines have flowed under the bridge. But Vijayan’s visit to Nileswaram gives the perfect alibi to wrap up the work. He will cut the ribbon and throw the 300m-long bridge open to the public on Sunday. In Kerala, a government project never gets completed on time and if at all the work is completed, it will be opened to the public only after a formal inauguration. There are obvious reasons, ranging from land acquisition hurdles to getting a convenient date of a Minister for the official inauguration, that delay a project.
While political parties believe in making a project inauguration a fanfare for publicity stunt and derive political mileage out of it, the officers remain silent either fearing backlash from political leaders or as an appeasement strategy.“We need to really get out of the culture of inaugurations. People should not be made to wait for lack of time of VIPs and the services should be launched immediately. If they want, official inauguration can be done later as per the convenience of the VVIPs,” said Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Council general secretary M P Vasudevan. RTI activist D B Binu said delaying a project due to non-availability of a Minister or a VIP for its official inauguration was against public interest and rights.
“Only in our nation, we have the practice of inaugurating the public projects with much fanfare. Several projects are open to the public only after a VIP inaugurates it. The government just forgets the fact the project is being constructed using public money and the public is the custodian of it,” he said, adding instead of putting the VIP’s name on the inaugural plaque, it should have the name of the contractor who constructed it along with the name of the PWD engineer who monitored the project.“This will enable the public to know who is responsible for the project if something goes wrong or the quality of the work is not up to the standard,” he said.