Administrative and professional lapses by officials of Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) and KITCO, coupled with the apathy of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government led to the Palarivattom flyover on NH Bypass getting ridden with potholes and its expansion joints developing problems within months of its inauguration in 2016, Minister for Public Works G. Sudhakaran has said.
The apathy and slack supervision by both the agencies, coupled with unscrupulous practices such as inadequate usage of cement and steel, led to the flyover developing cracks (detected in October 2018 by a team of Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways), the Minister told mediapersons on Saturday after an inspection of the repair works on the structure.
Frequent meetings to review the progress of bridge and flyover projects was rather unheard of during the UDF rule. The meetings held during the period were focused more on revising tender estimate and heeding to the demands of contractors. “The situation is different now and I insist on reviewing projects every two months,” he said.
Mr. Sudhakaran blamed KITCO, the flyover project’s consultant, for not giving due care to the design and other critical parameters of the flyover. On their part, the RBDCK officials failed to supervise the works done by New Delhi-based RDS Projects Limited, the contracting firm.
A decision on whether to blacklist the firm will be taken on the basis of the outcome of the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau probe that the State government ordered on Friday. The Vigilance team was directed to submit a report at the earliest, the Minister said and added that officials responsible for the fiasco would be held accountable.
Quoting the report on the flyover’s condition submitted by IIT-Chennai, he said the adoption of inferior construction methods resulted in the flyover’s deflection being double the permitted limit. All problems pointed out by the IIT team will be taken care of under the ongoing rehabilitation work of the flyover.
Vyttila flyover
Mr. Sudhakaran said complaints of inordinate delay by the Public Works Department (PWD) in completing slip roads and integrating service roads with NH Bypass at Vyttila and Kundannoor where flyover works were on, and subsequent traffic problems, would be looked into.
He lamented that encroachers and illegally parked vehicles occupied considerable width of the State’s roads, making commuting a nightmare.
Highways
The Minister alleged that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was neglecting the development of highways in Kerala.
“It is thus that the State was forced to fund 50% of the cost of Alappuzha and Kollam bypasses. Despite this, the NHAI has set up toll booths on the two stretches. Under no circumstance will we permit toll collection, since we pooled in with half the project cost,” he said.