Kochi: Kerala government has allocated Rs 2000 crore for the herculean K-rail project but has ignored acquiring land for laying an approach road for Railway overbridge at the busy Mulanthuruthy railway crossing.
The Railways have meticulously built an overbridge bridge worth over Rs 6 crore over the double track between Mulanthuruthy and Chottanikkara road aboot six years back in 2016 and since then the wait is on for the approach road.
The Kerala government says that it is going to build K-rail to solve the problems of the people traveling from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod.
But why is the government not sympathetic to the hardships of the people who travel through the route frequently, asks a regular commuter.
There is heavy traffic in the area when the railway gates are close on holidays. Tens of thousands of vehicles pass through the level crossing everyday with most of them going to Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala, he said.
Thousands of people use the road to visit the famous Chottanikkara temple, mainly during Sabarimala season which fetches the government hundreds of crores every year.
Every governments claim to improve
infrastructure to promote investment in the state. If this is the status of infrastructure at a place so close to the international port city of Kochi, one can imagine the condition of other areas, a local native said.
When contacted, Mulanthuruthy panchayat president Mariamma Benny told the newsskerala.com that the work could not be taken up due to high cost bidded by the contractors. The retendering process of approach road work is under process, she said.
Kerala Congress (J) MLA Anoop Jacob, who has the onus to take up steps to speed up work, was not accessible to react.
The state government is reported to have allocated Rs 29 crore to lay the approach road in 2014 budget. The Railways have done its job, but the Kerala government is sleeping over the matter for the last eight years ignoring the hardships of the people.
Photo Credit: thenewsskerala.com
