Kerala - Kochi   

Widening of Sahodaran Ayyappan Road delayed

Staff Reporter

Collector says land acquisition will start soon

WORK YET TO BEGIN: Land acquired at Pallimukku junction for widening Sahodaran Ayyappan Road is being used to park vehicles. — Photo: H. Vibhu

KOCHI: Widening of Sahodaran Ayyappan Road has been held up, months after the city corporation handed over Rs. 4.6 crores to revenue authorities for acquiring land.

Work on the important road began over seven years ago. A special tahsildar was appointed to speed up land acquisition.

Deputy Mayor C.K. Manishankar said, "Some landowners have expressed their willingness to surrender land free of cost. But some tenants are refusing to move out, despite courts dismissing their petitions."

He said Subhash Bose Road would be opened to vehicular traffic within a few days. The road had been widened to 15 metres and could carry some of the traffic which now used Sahodaran Ayyappan Road. The two roads run parallel to each other.

District Collector A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish said land acquisition was held up because officials were busy with election work. The acquisition would start soon. Tenants were opposing the move since the compensation would be given only to landowners, he added.

Shops and other structures extend to the road at many places at Vytilla, Elamkulam, Kadavanthra and Valanjambalam. The situation worsens from the south overbridge to Pallimukku. The four-lane road narrows down to two lanes in places where widening has not been carried out. This, often, results in accidents.

Mr. Hanish said steps would be taken to widen the `bell mouth' at Pallimukku junction. Though most buildings had been demolished on the road leading to the junction, the area was being used for parking vehicles. This, often, resulted in traffic snarls from Valanjambalam to Pallimukku.

The crowded Kadavanthra Junction is another bottleneck. This is because there are no reserve lanes at the junction for vehicles waiting to take a right turn. The bus stop is located right at the junction, blocking traffic. The traffic police have not shifted the stop, despite promises made some time ago.

Another bottleneck is Vytilla junction, where a serpentine queue of vehicles is seen most often. Though there is an urgent need to construct a flyover at the junction, neither the corporation nor the National Highways Authority of India has taken steps for building the facility. According to the authority's estimates, 35,000 passenger car units or PCUs (a conversion based on speed of vehicles and area occupied by them; for instance, the PCU of a car is 1, two-wheeler 2 and bus 3) use the stretch on the National Highway bypass daily. An almost equal number of vehicles uses Sahodaran Ayyappan Road and the road leading to Thripunithura. This calls for urgent measures to construct the flyover.

Even after the road is widened, the two-lane south overbridge will remain a bottleneck. The Railways has not done anything to widen the bridge. The district administration's promise that the footpath on one side of the bridge will be added to the carriageway is yet to bear fruit.

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