Potholed roads: High Court warns of stern action against erring officials

Kerala HC warns of stern action if road in front of St. Martin's Church not restored. Petitioners express concern over Kochi Corporation not having a Secretary. Court observes that it may take 200 years to complete road repair work. District Collector orders civic agencies to restore roads, prevent flooding & illegal parking. Warns of action under Disaster Management Act if work not executed.

The Kerala High Court has warned of stern action against officials who fail to restore the road in front of St. Martin’s Church at Palarivattom that was trenched months ago for pipeline work, if more accidents occur there.

The officials concerned would have a tough time getting pension and may have to direct traffic there, said Justice Devan Ramachandran, while expressing angst at little action being taken despite directions issued by the court from time to time. This followed a petition by C.P. Ajithkumar of Kochi and Polly Vadakkan of Thrissur. They expressed concern at the Kochi Corporation not having a Secretary for the past more than a month.

“Members of the public seem destined to suffer travelling through such damaged roads. At the present pace of road repair work, it may take up to 200 years to complete the work. It appears that one would have to patiently wait for that day,” the court said.

The agencies are now citing paucity of funds as a reason for not carrying out road repair work. Let Ministers who are expected to come to Kochi by road get to see their plight. Even worse, many roads in the city were flooded during the past week when it rained. Many people had sent videos of the inundated roads, court observed.

District Collector N.S.K. Umesh had on Thursday directed civic agencies to restore roads that were damaged in the rain and those trenched for various projects. Attention also ought to be given to prevent flooding of Kochi metro station premises. The agencies concerned also ought to ensure that there are pedestrian lines wherever needed. Steps should be taken to remove low-lying cables since they pose danger to road users. He further ordered that steps ought to be taken to prevent obstructive and illegal parking on Container Road and Seaport-Airport Road.

Mr. Umesh warned of taking action against the agencies concerned under the Disaster Management Act if they failed to execute the work, at a meeting convened to ensure quality of road repair work in the wake of High Court directives.