A joint committee of seven departments has been formed to resolve the issues related to the construction of Kochi metro from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kaloor to Kakkanad.
The committee, comprising the Public Works department (PWD), Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Kerala Water Authority (KWA), police, Thrikkakara Municipality represented by secretary, RTO and Kochi metro, was formed on Monday at a meeting presided over by Industries Minister P. Rajeeve to streamline the construction work and to address issues such as traffic congestion on the route, removal of cables, rearranging power supply, and road widening. The committee is expected to meet once in three days to discuss these issues. The first meeting of the committee will be on August 22.
Councillors in the respective areas should be heard and informed about the discussions. The meetings of the committee will be headed by Kochi metro in which executive engineer of KSEB, Thripunithura, executive engineer of KWA, assistant executive engineer of PWD, assistant commissioner of police and joint RTO should be present.
Priority will be given to resolving traffic hold-ups along the Palarivattom-Kakkanad route. Road widening should be carried out at the earliest. A period of two weeks is the estimated time for the completion of repairs on the Chembumukku-Kunnumpuram Road, the stretch in front of DLF Flats on the Seaport-Airport Road, and the road segment in front of The Park hotel. A two-km stretch of the Seaport-Airport Road identified for maintenance will be completed by October 15.
The meeting resolved to take strict action to prevent illegal parking on roadside and to remove all encroachments. The RTO, Thrikkakara municipality and the Revenue department will hold a joint inspection for this. While traffic will be rerouted along byroads to resolve congestion, entry from byroads to the main road will be prevented. Instead, U-turns will be introduced for this. The Thrikkakara Municipality has been asked to carry out urgent repair of all byroads.
The issues raised by the authorities of St Michael’s Church, Chembumukku, were also discussed at the meeting. Entry to the church compound should not be blocked. Fire tenders should be able to enter the church premises. Hibi Eden, MP, Uma Thomas, MLA, Kochi Metro Rail Limited managing director Loknath Behera, Thrikkakara municipal chairperson Radhamani Pillai and District Collector N.S.K Umesh attended the meeting.