Addressing the issue of road maintenance

The High Court of Kerala has suggested that delay in the administration procedures is the main reason that broken roads are not maintained on time. Currently, the Chief Engineer’s permission is needed to close even small potholes on a road.

This is what needs to be changed first. An executive engineer do not even have the authority to do the maintenance work of a road under his jurisdiction. Under the present system, the most senior officer is required to take a decision for each and every work, which includes petty maintenance works.

This British-era styled administration procedures must be revamped because this is not suitable for modern times. The decisions for changing these outdated administrational procedures must be taken at the ministerial level. Or, the legislative assembly can discuss and bring in the required changes in the laws for such a change.

Unfortunately, the majority time spend by the Legislative Assembly is on politics which have no bearing or use to the common people. Most of the representatives are only interested in mixing politics on the issue of who is responsible for closing the potholes on the roads. The common people need not know if the responsibility to maintain the roads lies with the PWD or the road fund board or if it’s the national road authority. After all, these departments are part of the government.

If potholes appear on a road and its destroyed, the people will naturally blame the ruling government. Everyone realized that it is the Chief Engineer who is responsible for not maintaining the roads only when the High Court intervened in the issue. Recently, the PWD Engineers have informed the High Court that the Chief Engineer did not give permission to do maintenance work on the Aluva- Perumbavoor road that has been ruined to an extend that it is now prone to accidents.

The High Court had summoned the engineers when a motor-cyclist, Kunju Mohammad of Vazhakala, died after his vehicle fell into a pothole. The Court made it clear that if the roads get destroyed the primary responsibility rests with the engineers.

The compensation for the family members of those who are killed by accidents by falling into these potholes must be extracted from these engineers. It is seen that if someone is killed in such an accident, the maintenance work will begin the next day itself. Suddenly they swallow all the excuses they made for not doing the maintenance work earlier. This clearly shows that the engineers know how to do maintenance work on time.

However, the engineers are reluctant to do these works on a timely basis. They seem to think that once they move the file to the higher authority, asking for permission to cover the potholes, their work is done. It is these kinds of practices that must change.

The maintenance work can be done on time and the report of that can be send to the Chief Engineer later. Blaming the rains and tarring is just a tactic to divert attention from the main cause.

If the government cannot do the maintenance work on time, then it can think about giving the work to private companies. Good roads, without potholes, is not only the need of the citizens but it is their right.