'Cracks rampant during rainy season, nightmare for travelers'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC President Sunny Joseph MLA called for urgent intervention by the central and state governments to address the serious concerns raised among the people regarding the safety of the national highway under construction in Kerala.

Sunny Joseph:

“Those who claim credit for the national highway are also responsible for the defects in its construction. Cracks form in many places and the highway collapses as soon as the rainy season begins.

Things get more complicated when the monsoon season arrives. There has been a widespread landslide near the Kannur-Taliparamba-Koppam National Highway. The Malaparamba National Highway service road, which was opened for traffic the other day, collapsed. The retaining wall of the six-lane highway at Kooriyad on the Kozhikode-Thrissur National Highway collapsed.

Four kilometers from here, a crack appeared in the road at Thalappara on the Kozhikode road. The service road between Kanhangad Mavungal and Chemmattamvayal collapsed. All these are worrying signs. A crack also formed on the Kasaragod Pullur underpass. Thrissur-Palakkad National Highway 544 has also become a nightmare for travelers. The safety crisis should be resolved by resolving the defects in the construction and ensuring scientific construction.

The main reason for the accidents is the unscientific construction of national highways without taking sufficient precautions. The central and state governments should not think they could escape by blaming the construction contractors. There is widespread irregularity in the construction of national highways.”

The Public Works Minister claimed to have visited the road construction sites regularly and assessed the construction work. Despite complaints from public representatives at responsible forums about the unscientific nature of the national highway construction, there has been no effort to inspect it. Sunny Joseph also accused the minister of not being prepared to review the system despite pointing out the shortcomings of the water drainage system in the areas where the soil was raised for the road.