Kerala - Kochi   

Pipe-laying to throw city traffic out of gear

Staff Reporter

Digging of roads will take up to 114 days to be completed

KOCHI : The pipe-laying work of the proposed single-point mooring project of Kochi Refineries Limited (KRL) may throw vehicular traffic out of gear in the city for over three months.

The company would dig up roads to a depth of two metres from the Rajendra Maidan to the Mahakavi G. Road, near the Ernakulam South Railway Station. Pipelines were already laid from the project site in Puthu Vype to Rajendra Maidan up to Subhash Park.

It would be extended through the Hospital Road, M.G. Road, Iyyatil Junction, Chitoor Road and Mahakavi G. Road to reach the railway station from where it would be connected to the existing pipelines.

Sources said that the work might take up to 114 days to be completed.

The work was divided into 11 sectors so as to minimise the disruption of traffic. Representatives of KRL, traffic police, Motor Vehicles Department, private buses and Chamber of Commerce took part in a meeting chaired by District Collector A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish. The officials discussed ways to divert and regulate the traffic.

City Police Commissioner P. Vijayan said KRL promised to provide traffic volunteers for regulating the movement of vehicles. "Deviation and no-parking boards will be put up wherever work is on. KRL has promised to restore the roads to good shape and relay it as soon as the work is over. On their part, motorists must ensure that vehicles are not parked in roads through which traffic is diverted."

He said traffic volunteers would be posted to assist the police during the Onam rush. "This is under the Modernising Government Programme, where members of the public are given a chance to participate in policing. There is no centralised recruiting system for the purpose. Any able-bodied person can get in touch with the police to become a traffic volunteer," he said.

Peak tourist season

The pipe-laying work will be undertaken when the tourist season is at a peak. Traffic regulation could have been easier had the South overbridge been widened and the Railways completed the work on the long-pending Pullepady bridge. With most roads in Kochi and West Kochi being in unmotorable condition, traffic diversion will add to commuters' woes.

Though the Construction Wing of the Railways set the deadline of July 15 to construct the rail portion of the Pullepady bridge, work was yet to begin in right earnest.

The Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala finished the work on the approach spans to the bridge. Deputy Chief Engineer (Construction) of the Railways Radhakrishnan Nair refused to divulge details of the work. A visit to the work site showed that not even half-a-dozen workers were present.

Deputy Mayor C.K. Manishankar said vehicles could be diverted through the P.T. Usha Road and Mullassery Canal Road during the pipe-laying work in M.G. Road.

"Long-distance and city buses could be diverted through the NH bypass to reduce traffic congestion. It is meaningless to say that buses from Alappuzha should pass through crowded city roads to reach Aluva and northern districts. They can easily be diverted through the bypass, either side of which is fast developing. Similarly, buses to West Kochi can ply through the Kundanoor bridge, which is now under-utilised. This could in the long run be made a permanent mechanism," he said.

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