Side roads in Kochi cry for upkeep

Contractors’ reluctant to take up work due to non-payment of dues

Even as most arterial roads in the city are in motorable condition, the Kochi Corporation is under fire for the shoddy condition of many side roads, over three months after rains took a break.

It has resulted in much of the annual working season, which lasts during the dry weather months from November to May, being lost. Sources in the corporation attributed it to two reasons. “The first is that most contractors do not take up road repair and resurfacing work, since they have not been paid dues dating back to November 2018. The net result is that only a few major contractors are in a position to take up work, although repair and resurfacing are pending in numerous divisions,” they said.

The second reason is that funds are being allocated for non-urgent works like construction of drains and culverts, with the result that funds that could have been used to resurface potholed roads in three or four divisions are diverted to a single division for drain / culvert work. Many councillors are unhappy thanks to the unhealthy trend, the sources added.

Ernakulam District Residents Associations’ Apex Council (EDRAAC) P. Rangadasa Prabhu attributed the reasonably good condition of arterial roads in the city to their upgradation (as smart roads) and resurfacing being done by agencies like CSML and KMRL. “The Kochi Corporation should ideally have used the funds thus saved to ensure the optimal upkeep of the rest of the roads under its jurisdiction. Any further delay will result in the existing potholes and undulations on ill-maintained roads becoming bigger, causing traffic snarls and entrapping gullible motorists and pedestrians,” he said.

That the city does not have a ‘mobile patchwork unit’ to repair potholes as soon as they develop is yet another serious anomaly. Time is overdue to procure one such unit to prevent accidents. The government and civic agencies are duty-bound to ensure good roads, since they collect multiple taxes. They should stop passing the buck. Else, Kochi will continue to be stuck in archaic methods of road restoration, Mr. Prabu said.

C.P. Ajith Kumar, owner of a city-based travel agency, who approached the High Court seeking speedy and proper restoration of roads, said that civic agencies had already lost three dry weather months, during which time damaged roads and drains could have been repaired. Any further apathy will result in their condition getting worse during the impending monsoon due to inundation, he added.

Kochi Corporation Contractors’ Association president M.R. Binu said dues totalling over 40 months had not been cleared. “It has resulted in debt-ridden contractors being unable to take up fresh work. There is also a possibility of the quality of work suffering, since contractors are starved of funds. We will embark on an agitation in March, if at least one year’s dues are not cleared,” he said.