Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Roadside trenches pose hazard

Staff Reporter

Failure of State Government agencies to put up warning signs in focus

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The death on Friday night of Narayana Pillai, 55, who fell into a trench dug by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) and the Kerala State Road Transport Project (KSTP) at Vaiyyettu, Venjarammoodu, has once again focussed attention on the dangers posed by such open trenches on the roadside.

The incident also points to the fact that such agencies either fail to install warning signs and precautionary fencing around such trenches and other construction spots.

The body of Narayana Pillai was found inside the trench on Saturday morning by passers by. He is reported to have died after hitting his head on a metal valve inside the trench. The concrete slabs laid haphazardly on the spot by the KSTP reportedly prevented Pillai from spotting the trench. The local people blockaded the State highway for over an hour on Saturday in protest against the incident.

Lok Ayukta direction

Two similar cases had come up before the Lok Ayukta in 2004. The forum had taken action on its own in the case of the death of Raj Manjadi, a news photographer whose scooter had fallen into an open trench by the side of the road at Vijayamohini junction, Pangode, on February 17 that year.

There was no warning sign near the trench dug by the Kerala State Electricity Board for cabling work, except for four iron rods around the trench. The Lok Ayukta had sought a detailed report from the authorities concerned on the circumstances leading to the incident.

The then Upa Lok Ayukta V. Bhaskaran Nambiar had said in his order that it was a very serious matter that a trench dug near a public place was kept uncovered, posing a grave threat to the travelling public. The judge said it was a case of culpable negligence in which the authorities had not taken even the minimum care to safeguard the life and property of an individual. The Lok Ayukta later recommended that a criminal case be registered against the officials responsible.

In March, 2004 acting on a complaint filed by the wife of E.C. Thomas, an AG's office employee who died in a two-wheeler accident at Bakery Junction on November 13, 2003, the Lok Ayukta had directed the KWA and the Public Works Department to conduct a detailed inquiry into the circumstances which led to the accident.

Thomas had died after his scooter hit boulders kept around a newly-repaired manhole in the road in front of the RBI office at Bakery Junction. The boulders were not visible as there was no streetlight on that stretch of the road.

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