Major road works in district to be hit

KOCHI: Stalling the works of some of the major roads in the district, the district panchayat and the PWD Department have started a row over taking over of roads of district panchayat by the PWD. Though PWD Minister V K Ebrahimkunju had earlier assured that the maintenance and repair work will be completed  by November 30, it seems that the government has not taken any measure to settle the issue.A high-ranking PWD official said that till date they have not got any instruction from the government. “We need a government order to take back the roads. But, we haven’t got any  so far,” he said.The authorities of district panchayat have seriously raised concern over the issue and have submitted a memorandum to the PWD Minister in this regard. The district panchayat claims that these roads were once handed over to them by the state government under the Panchayati Raj Act. “So far we have spent Rs. 15 crore on these roads. Retrieval of roads are like encroachment upon our rights. Rather than taking backing the roads which have been well maintained by the district panchayat, the PWD Department should allocate more funds to repair the roads,” said district panchayat president Eldose Kunnappally.“There are 165 roads which have been handed over by the PWD to the district panchayat. We have completed the repair work of 56 of them. Unlike the PWD Department which does only tarring of roads, we ensure the facilities like drainage and side protection as well,” said N Robson, LSGD, executive engineer, Ernakulam district panchayat. Under the Panchayat Raj Act, the roads which have been handed over to us are the other district roads (ODR). Most of these roads were maintained using the special maintenance grant of the District Panchayat,” said Sajitha Shafeeq, Chairperson,   Works Standing Committee.  She added that they have given a letter seeking sanction to the State Level Advisory Group for the money to complete the rest of the work. “ We are awaiting the reply,”she said.