Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Traffic blues likely today

— Photo: S. Mahinsha

A detour: Workers setting up a deviation on the Ambalamukku-Kowdiar road on Monday, for vehicular traffic, before digging the road to lay a water pipeline.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Workers of the JBIC wing of the Kerala Water Authority on Monday evening laid sheets of metal beneath loose earth at a point by the side of the Ambalamukku-Kowdiar road, as a detour for traffic, preparatory to digging a trench across the road to lay a water pipeline.

The 400-mm ‘distribution main’ line originates from the Peroorkada reservoir of the KWA.

Though the line was laid on both sides of the road some weeks ago, the ‘crossing’ beneath the road was not done so far. According to JBIC officials the trench was scheduled to the dug some days ago but the sudden onset of the monsoon proved a hindrance.

Sources in the KWA however told The Hindu that poor planning by the JBIC officials had forced them to begin work on the trench at a time when there is a surge in traffic in the city due to the reopening of schools. On Monday morning the traffic police regulated movement of vehicles on this road to avoid a gridlock.

Though the digging of the trench began at 10 p.m. on Monday, the laying of the pipeline and the covering of the trench is expected to be over only late on Tuesday morning. “This means that there is every possibility of a traffic jam on this section of the road early on Tuesday morning,” a KWA engineer said.

JBIC officials, however, said here that the laying of the pipeline would only have a minimal impact on the movement of traffic.

“Vehicles would have to go off the road for a few feet, onto the track that we have prepared, and then back on to the road. We will finish the work as fast as we can,” said T. Ravindran, consultant engineer with the Tokyo Engineering Consultants, which oversees the implementation of the JBIC schemes.

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