Kerala - Kochi   

Steps on to ease traffic problems

Staff Reporter

Ministers take stock of the situation

TRAFFIC CHAOS: A scene from Thevara Junction. - Photo: Vipinchandran

KOCHI: The Government has announced several measures to ease traffic problems in the wake of the Venduruthy Bridge getting damaged after a dredger hit it last week. Traffic had been diverted putting people in the West Kochi area into great difficulty.

Public Works Minister T.U. Kuruvilla and Transport Minister Mathew T. Thomas announced here on Thursday that buses from West Kochi would go via the BOT and UP Bridges to reach Thevara Junction while buses bound for West Kochi would let off their passengers at the Venduruthy Bridge entrance and cross the bridge before passengers board the bus again for their onward journey.

Two of the boats belonging to the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) that were operating services from High Court Jetty would shift their operations base to the KSRTC Jetty, said the Ministers.

The KSRTC would operate special services on the National Highway for the passengers coming from Aroor and Kumbalanghi areas. If more services were needed, they would be looked into by the District Collector. The new arrangements were in place from Thursday itself, said the Ministers.

They appealed to the bus operators to cooperate with the arrangement in view of the hardship suffered by bus commuters.

The Ministers had earlier taken stock of the situation arising out of the accident last week when a dredger operating for the Cochin Port Trust hit the bridge damaging its piers. The Ministers said that it would take about two months for the repair works to be carried out.

Meanwhile, the report by the expert committee that studied the damage caused to the twin rail and road bridge had indicated that only one pile of the rail bridge had been damaged. However, the road and rail bridges being interlinked, it was not possible without further study to issue a safety certificate for the road bridge.

Study report

P.K. Aravindan, retired professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, would make a further study of the damage based on which the Public Works Department would issue a safety certificate for the bridge. The study report is expected to be available on Friday evening, Cochin Port Trust sources said.

The decision to entrust Prof. Aravindan with the study was taken at a meeting held at the Cochin Port Trust on Thursday. Port Trust Chairman N. Ramachandran, Deputy Chairman Subhash Kumar, Chief Engineer J. Karthikeyan, PWD Superintending Engineer M.C. Manoharan, Commander N.K. Reddy of the Indian Navy, Prof. Aravindan and Senior Divisional Engineer of the Railways Shaji Zachariah participated in the meeting.

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