NH Bypass, Vyttila Mobility Hub shrouded in darkness

Edappally-Aroor NH 66 bypass and Vyttila Junction in Kerala face darkness despite ongoing LED light project.

A cloak of darkness continues to engulf the Edappally-Aroor NH 66 bypass, the busiest NH corridor in Kerala, Vyttila Junction, and the sprawling Vyttila Mobility Hub (VMH) where bus, metro, and ferry passengers converge, even as Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) is in its last leg of implementing a ₹40-crore project to replace 40,400 street lights in areas falling under the Kochi Corporation with LED lights and their supporting brackets.

This has been the condition of the two areas for well over two years, said sources in the traffic police. Making matters worse, broken, damaged, rusted and missing lamp posts abound in the Edappally-Aroor NH 66 bypass, while many posts have snapped cables. This has made commuters and pedestrians more vulnerable on the accident-prone stretch, after fall of dusk, they added.

Official sources said the project to install 40,400 LED lights in all divisions of the Corporation would be completed by the end of October. “But infrastructure problems persist in the form of damaged/missing posts and also snapped underground cables that ran through the length of the median on the NH bypass. The scope of the ₹40-crore project covers only the expense to install LED lights and their bracket arms atop electric posts,” they said.

According to an estimate readied by CSML’s consultant, approximately ₹1 crore is needed to replace the snapped underground cables, including on the NH bypass. The approval of, among others, CSML’s director board is needed to sanction the requisite additional funds. This is in case the Corporation is unable to provide funds for the purpose, it is learnt.

The civic body had demanded that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) restore the cables, saying that holes dug as part of median-beautification works by the authority in 2023 on the NH bypass were among the reasons for the cables suffering damage. NHAI officials denied this and said the onus was entirely on the Corporation, citing that it ought to have maintained the posts (many of which are in dilapidated condition) and the cables.

Sources in CSML said care had been taken to maintain an average of 15-metre distance between the LED lights installed afresh atop posts at a minimum height of five metres. They would have a five-year annual maintenance contract.

Expressing concern at inadequate lights at the mobility hub, T.N. Pratapan, secretary of Vyttila Vikasana Samithi, hoped that either VMH Society, Kochi Corporation, or CSML would take steps to install an adequate number of high-lumen lights on the 25-acre premises. “Little action was taken although I gave complaints to VMH Society, and recently to the police after a young woman passenger was attacked by a person under the cover of darkness,” he said.