Innumerable footpaths redeveloped by Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) in the city hub are in a damaged state, endangering the safety of pedestrians and road users.
Incidentally, they were redeveloped less than two years ago.
The massive project to redevelop drains and footpaths that CSML undertook on arterial roads like Banerjee Road, Shanmukham Road, Park Avenue Road, and a few dozen side roads has a three-year defect-liability period (DLP). Under this, the contractor concerned ought to mandatorily replace broken tiles/paver blocks, or relay them without undulations during the three-year time span, official sources said.
DLP coverage
But the DLP clause does not cover damage owing to ‘external’ reasons like vehicle parking or if the paver blocks are not relaid properly after being dismantled for drain works, in which case agencies like the Kochi Corporation will have to do the repair/restoration work. Neither is operation and maintenance (O&M) a component of the project. It is also up to the Corporation to issue instructions to firms that have erected telecom and other posts that obstruct free and safe movement of pedestrians on such footpaths, to remove them, they said.
Residents’ associations, trade bodies, non-governmental organisations, and many others had repeatedly flagged the deteriorating plight of many footpaths, for whose redevelopment CSML invested heavily, from a total of ₹1,000 crore allocated by the Centre for Kochi. The most vociferous among them was Ernakulam Vikasana Samithi that persistently demanded accountability by CSML and the Kochi Corporation in clearing/relocating posts, direction boards and other items that hampered safe movement of pedestrians.
MG Road Merchants’ Association (MGRMA) too launched a campaign to ensure pedestrian-friendly footpaths in the wake of many sections of footpaths on MG Road that were redeveloped by KMRL as part of the Kochi metro work, being dismantled within a year to clear drains beneath them. Even the tiles that were subsequently laid, are in broken condition in many areas.
Rajesh Nair, convener of the association, said the primary ownership of footpaths and the responsibility of maintaining them in a safe and encroacher-free condition rest with the Kochi Corporation. “On its part, CSML is duty-bound to repair footpaths during the DLP duration, which means, both CSML and the Corporation are equally responsible to ensure safe footpaths. On their part, the police must ensure that vehicles are not parked obstructively on footpaths,” he added.
Mayor M. Anilkumar said agencies that owned roads, including the PWD, must also ensure that their footpaths and drains were safe. “On their part, telecom companies and cable TV operators must remove/relocate posts that inconvenience pedestrians,” he said.
Published - April 02, 2024 09:14 pm IST
