Thiruvananthapuram: Protests are brewing against the apathy being meted out to the residents at Ambalammukku - Muttada road stretch in the capital city. Despite repeated reassurances from Public Works Department and Kerala Water Authority, the road work has been proceeding at a snail's pace. K Muraleedharan, MLA, and Congress workers have taken to streets on the issue.
The road that leads from Ambalammukku to Paruthippara has been in utter shambles for close to a year now. With recurring issues of pipe burst and also water scarcity in some areas in the stretch, vehicle and pedestrian movement has been badly affected. The stretch is notorious for water logging as it was once a wetland area which has resulted in having huge ruts and trenches. With residents hitting the streets over the last several weeks, the KWA sprung into action which saw the PWD putting metal on the stretch. Local MLA Muraleedharan laid a siege on the stretch on Monday when the road tarring was going on at one end of the stretch. He told DC that if the PWD does not complete the tarring on the stretch, he would kick off an indefinite fast from Oct. 2 onwards.
"There was inordinate delay from the side of KWA to hand over the stretch to PWD. Hence tarring could not be started until Monday. I received a letter from the PWD officials last week stating that they are unable to undertake the work as long as the KWA does not hand over it", Muraleedharan told DC.
However, the residents alleged that it was purely "politics" from the side of Congress MLA. Dr. John Panicker, a resident there since the last 21 years told DC that the Congress MLA should have avoided the protest as it was already informed that the tarring would be kicked off on Monday.
"For more than three years the Ambalammukku - Muttada stretch has been in utter shambles. The reason is because several pipelines go through this route where the road is unable to hold the pressure. The domestic connection to my house has never experienced any issues. But recently without any reason, the KWA replaced that connection which reveals corruption", said Dr. John.
