Delay in restoring potholed, trenched roads in Kochi invites public wrath

Potholed roads and trenched corridors prompt public to seek legal action against civic agencies for delayed restoration.

The inordinate delay by civic agencies in restoring potholed roads and roads that were trenched earlier this year has resulted in members of the public approaching the police and courts seeking remedial measures.

In the latest of such instances, Muhammed Firdouz A.V., a lawyer and resident of Thammanam, initially approached the police and later the court, alleging that road corridors were being indiscriminately trenched to lay water and LPG pipelines, often without the mandatory sanction from the civic agency concerned.

“On observing inordinate delay in restoring many road corridors in the city that had been trenched to lay water and LPG pipelines, I informed the police earlier this year of the plight of the crucial Thammanam-Pullepady Road and its eastward extension to the NH bypass. Although a contractor assured in the presence of the police that the trenched portions would be restored in a week, little was done. I subsequently filed an RTI query that revealed that many roads were being trenched without getting the permission of agencies that owned them,” he said, referring to the harrowing time that motorists and pedestrians faced as they travelled through Thammanam-Pullepady Road, Nandanath Kochako Road, Palarivattom-Thammanam Road, Mahakavi Vylopilly Road and P.J. Antony Road where there were improperly-restored trenches every few metres.

“Despite this, the local police and the District Police Chief were reluctant to register a case, following which I approached the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-Ernakulam. The court directed the police to submit a report in this regard. The police report further reinforced that many of the roads were trenched sans permission of civic agencies concerned, probably to override the rule that the complete restoration work, including resurfacing, must be done within a month,” Mr. Firdouz added.

Following this, the court ordered registration of cases against the contractors concerned and he filed a petition with the Palarivattom police, seeking registration of a non-bailable case under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Interestingly, a circular issued by the Local Self-Government department says that roads that are trenched ought to be restored by relying on the same specification in which it had been resurfaced earlier. “But most often, even roads that are paved as per BMBC specifications are often restored shoddily after trenching. I would shortly approach the High Court regarding this and also the deplorable condition of many other potholed or trenched roads where accidents and traffic hold-ups due to their condition have become common,” Mr Firdouz, who had earlier approached the court seeking a probe into toll collection for the Edappally-Thrissur NH 544 stretch, said.

Mayor M. Anilkumar said that the restoration of trenched portions of Thammanam-Pullepady Road had begun. In addition, the Kochi Corporation is making efforts to prevail on the agencies and the contractors concerned to speed up restoration of the rest of the potholed and trenched roads.