Faced with the inordinate delay in widening the congested and accident-prone Bharat Mata College-Irumpanam stretch of Seaport-Airport Road into a four-lane corridor, the Thripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents’ Associations (TRURA) and those who are clamouring for the yet-to-be realised Thripunithura Bypass have demanded that the stretch be widened and also extended to Puthiyakavu.
The four-laning of the road and its approximately three-km-long extension through largely fallow tracts of land would considerably decongest the road where passenger vehicles jostle for space with goods carriers and tanker lorries. To invite the State government’s attention to the matter, the Thiruvankulam regional committee of the Ernakulam District Residents Associations’ Apex Council (EDRAAC) would hold a dharna at 4.30 p.m. on Saturday in front of the passport office at Karingachira, TRURA sources said.
Anoop Jacob, MLA, will inaugurate the dharna. The other demands include measures to speed up the development of Mamala Bund Road and steps to conserve Thannerchal Park. The aim is to hasten these infrastructure projects and make them key campaign topics in the 2026 Legislative Assembly polls. The mass resistance to collection of toll for overbridges in the region yielded results soon after the 2016 polls, they added.
Citing the urgent need to widen Seaport-Airport Road and to extend it towards Puthiyakavu, Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) officials said that these components could have been realised at least a decade ago had the State government allotted funds. “The stalemate over constructing the long-overdue Thripunithura Bypass was yet another reason for the delay. With the alignment of two greenfield NH projects [the Kundannoor-Angamaly NH 544 and the Kochi-Theni NH 85] passing through the region, it is high time the extension was realised, albeit belatedly,” they added.
The RBDCK had acquired land at 30-metre width over two decades ago to widen Seaport-Airport Road as a four-lane corridor. This could be done once water and gas pipelines beneath the stretch were relocated, they added.
Published - January 16, 2025 09:30 pm IST
