Bridge construction moving at snail's pace.

With only 110 days remaining for the beginning of the next Sabarimala pilgrimage season, the commissioning of new Kurunthottayam bridge on the MC Road at Pandalam Junction hangs in balance if the slow pace of the work is any indication.The laxity of the PWD authorities in beginning the Rs. 4.20-crore bridge work after two months of awarding the contract is an ample proof in this regard.The early completion of the crucial bridge is a dire need for the thousands of MC Road passengers and the lakhs of Sabarimala pilgrims during the two-month long pilgrimage season beginning on November 15.

However, the time-consumed demolition of the old bridge, which took more than a week, adds doubts over the lethargic attitude of the PWD authorities and the contractor. The two-year long agitation, including two-week indefinite relay fast, for the new bridge failed to gear up the PWD authorities in the implementation of the work. “We are not optimistic on the commissioning of the bridge work before the beginning of the next pilgrimage season,” according to Krishnakumar, convener of the Pandalam Powrasamithi that spearheaded the agitation.“The attitude of the contractor and the PWD team assigned for the work are not keen in the completion of the bridge on a war-footing,” he said.

“The people on both sides of the bridge are facing severe hardships to reach out the destinations as the diverted routes are too congested and take time as traffic bottlenecks are a common affair,” Krishnakumar said.

PWD Minister sets October 31 deadline

PWD Minister G Sudhakaran minced no words on completion of new Kurunthottayam bridge before October 31. “Instructions were given to the PWD officials concerned to complete the new bridge before October 31, though the earlier deadline was October 15,” the Minister said.

Sudhakaran said that the meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on July 19 to review the preparations of the work on the important 30 Sabarimala roads took the issue of completion of new Kurunthottayam bridge before October 31. “Let the work on the new bridge implementation done on a 24-hour pattern, so that the commissioning could be accomplished even before the deadline,’ the Minister said.

Chittayam Gopakumar MLA said that the completion of the bridge before October 31 was decided at the review meeting of PWD Minister last week .

“To speed up the work, monitoring of the work is conducted at least three times a week,” Chittayam said.

Instructions were given to the PWD engineers and the contractor concerned to deploy adequate number of workers and machinery to the achieve the target, he said.For a long-term solution, implementation of bypass road is needed, he said.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS