Action will be taken against officials who are responsible for the indefinite delay in repairing the Peringottukara-Kanjani road, which was dug up for laying the pipes of the AMRUT drinking water project for Guruvayur.
District Collector Haritha V. Kumar, who visited the area along with C.C. Mukundan, MLA, on Friday, said that strict action would be taken against officials who pushed the people to extreme hardship for more than five years.
The work on laying the drinking water pipeline from the Karuvannur river to Guruvayur under the AMRUT project was started more than five years ago. The hardship of the people started when the roads were dug up from Peringottukara to Mullassery through Kanjani. For the past five years, people on this stretch have been forced to use the severely battered road.
“During rain, the entire stretch will be filled with muddy water. As there are huge cracks on the dug up road, accidents are common as one cannot make out where the potholes are. Buses refuse to conduct services through the road. Vehicles break down frequently. During summer, people cannot use the roads due to severe dust,” says Shravan Paul of Thoyakkavu, who uses the road regularly. Repeated requests and even protests of the local people fell on deaf ears.
Of the 23-km stretch from Peringottukara to Kanjani, work on laying pipes is pending for only one and half km. Along with the AMRUT project, the Collector asked the officials to complete the work on laying pipes under the Jal Jeevan project too.
A timetable for completing the work will be prepared jointly by the Kerala Water Authority and the Public Works Department. Urgent steps will be taken to make the road motorable, the Collector said. “Not monitoring the work on the road is a failure on the part of the officials. Strict action will be taken against them,” she added. The Collector asked the Kerala Water Authority officials to repair the road as soon as the rain stopped.
