The government has toughened its stand against Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd (TRDCL), the concessionaire of the Thiruvananthapuram City Road Improvement Project (TCRIP), for failing to carry out timely repairs and maintenance of 42 km of roads developed in the capital.
Within a day of asking the Chief Executive Officer of the Kerala Road Fund Board to submit a report within two days on the condition of the TCRIP roads, Minister for Public Works G. Sudhakaran has asked the IL&FS, the parent company of TRDCL, to remove project director Anil Kumar Pandala from the post for behaving in an “irresponsible way.”
The Minister said on Wednesday that he had written to the parent company to post a ‘responsible’ person as project director of the TCRIP. Coming out heavily against Tuesday’s statement of Mr. Pandala, the Minister said the work schedule announced by the TRDCL itself was a testimony to the poor condition of the roads.
Waterlogging
The concessionaire had failed to address waterlogging in front of University College and in front of the Secretariat. Mr. Sudhakaran said the officials had reported to him that road surfaces had been damaged and 50-odd potholes developed in the corridors. The TRDCL had also erred in maintaining the footpaths and ancillary facilities.
The Minister said the concessionaire had also failed to take steps to rectify the bad stretches on the CRIP roads despite several letters given by the KRFB. The Minister said the TRDCL project director had acted in an irresponsible way, failed to take steps to rectify the roads as per the agreement, and had come out against the government. KRFB CEO P.C. Harikesh said the project engineer had written to the TRDCL about the poor upkeep and maintenance of the TCRIP corridors developed under annuity basis, with a 15-year maintenance contract. The TRDCL had informed the KRFB that the rectification works will be taken up by the second week of October. “If the defects in the roads pointed out are not rectified, legal steps will be taken against the concessionaire,” the KRFB CEO said in a statement here.