Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Pipeline burst results in crack on embankment at Jyothipuram

Staff Reporter

Railways carry out repairs; people stage protest

MEN AT WORK: Workers restoring the collapsed embankment of the railway track at Aryasala on Tuesday. — Photo: S. Mahinsha

Thiruvananthapuram: The bursting of a six-inch pipeline of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) and heavy rain resulted in a crack on the embankment along the Thiruvananthapuram Central-Nagercoil railway section at Jyothipuram, near Valiyasala, on Tuesday.

Following the burst in the pipeline, laid a couple of months ago, water gushed through the loose earth of the 20-foot embankment around 3.15 p.m. The Railways took immediate steps to remove the earth that was about to slip onto the track. The embankment was repaired.

The incident occurred about 200 metres from the Nagercoil end of the platform of the Central Railway Station and on the pathway where 150-odd houses are located. In 1998, the embankment had slipped in the locality during heavy rain, disrupting the train services to the Nagercoil side.

A section of local people, led by V. Sivankutty, MLA, councillors Sudarsanan and Lekshmi, staged a protest in the area demanding restoration of the pipeline, sewerage and relaying the road. The people objected to the work by the Railways. Mr. Sivankutty, in a statement said, the Railways were allowed to carry out the repairs following an assurance from Divisional Railway Manager S. Vijayakumaran that all the work would be taken up within a week.

Steps were taken to strengthen the embankment and widen the pathway owned by the Railways. The earth was removed and the slope flattened.

A senior railway official said the Railways would provide a four-foot-wide, 300-metre-long pathway at Jyothipuram. The pipes and cables of various utility services had to be removed to carry out the work. The State would acquire a five-metre stretch of land for strengthening the embankment.

The work would be taken up once the land was acquired and handed over to the Railways. The official added that it would take at least a month for the work to be completed.

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