Delay in implementing road projects to decongest Thripunithura draws flak

Steps are under way to widen the bottlenecked Thiruvankulam Junction and the Mamala–Karingachira corridor, with the PWD having prepared an estimate in this regard.
| Photo Credit: file photo

Protesting against the undue delay in constructing, widening, and extending roads that pass through Thripunithura — and the resultant worsening of traffic hold-ups — the Thripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents’ Associations (TRURA) will launch an agitation in June.

“This is because there is inexcusable delay by the government in extending the road that runs beneath the Kochi metro corridor to Hill Palace Road, widening the S.N. Junction–Poothotta road and the Kaniampuzha road, extending the Seaport–Airport Road southwards from Karingachira to Puthiyakavu through unused paddy fields, completing the Thripunithura bypass, setting up the bus terminal proposed years ago near the Thripunithura railway station and the adjacent metro station, and reopening Thannerchal Park, to name a few,” said V. C. Jayendran, convener of TRURA.

The Mamala–Chitrapuzha Bund Road project and halts for more trains at Thripunithura are among the other long-overdue proposals. In the case of the bund road corridor, people had surrendered their land free of cost. However, the laying of the Kochi–Salem gas pipeline through the road threw a spanner in its development prospects. If completed, the road would help decongest Karingachira, Hill Palace and Thiruvankulam junctions, where traffic hold-ups are the norm. “To put it simply, Thripunithura has received only one major road since the reign of the Kochi kings — the mini bypass — which is riddled with steep curves,” he added.

In the meantime, a meeting chaired by Anoop Jacob, MLA, and led by District Collector N.S.K. Umesh had recently directed the officials concerned to speed up the Mamala–Chitrapuzha Bund Road project. The Thripunithura Municipality had been asked to explore ways to acquire more land for the proposed road, which the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) had been tasked to execute. Steps were under way to widen the bottlenecked Thiruvankulam Junction and the Mamala–Karingachira corridor, with the Public Works department (PWD) having prepared an estimate in this regard, sources said.

Once completed, the proposed road is expected to significantly reduce the number of tanker lorries and other goods carriers using the Karingachira–Hill Palace–Thiruvankulam road.

Expressing concern over worsening traffic snarls on the road, C.A. Benny, chairman of the health standing committee of Thripunithura Municipality and regional vice-president of Ernakulam District Residents Associations’ Apex Council (EDRAAC) in Thiruvankulam, recalled that a human chain attended by over 1,500 people had been organised about a decade ago, seeking urgent steps to build the bund road. “It can be completed if oil firms use their CSR funds to help relocate the gas pipelines. As a short-term measure, steps must be taken to widen Thiruvankulam and other junctions in the region,” he added.

Official sources said that the bund road, for which the State government had sanctioned ₹75 crore about a decade ago, could be completed if an additional two metres of land was acquired on either side of the proposed stretch.