SmartCity roads in Thiruvananthapuram to be made motorable by June 15

Minister directs to take steps on a war-footing to address problem of waterlogging in parts of the city

The Thyvila road in the city that was dug up for SmartCity work. With rain lashing the city, the work on the road has been stalled, putting residents into hardship. | Photo Credit: S. Mahinsha

Roads in Kerala’s capital where work is under way as part of the SmartCity project will be made motorable by June 15. This was decided at a meeting of officials chaired by Minister for General Education and Labour V. Sivankutty here on Wednesday.

The meeting also decided to complete in two days works to reduce waterlogging experienced in some parts of the city following heavy rain for the past three days.

The Minister said work was under way on 10 roads as part of the SmartCity project. He directed the officials concerned to expedite the road development and complete the work in a time-bound manner. Warning boards to ensure safety should be put up in places where pits that were dug for road development led to waterlogging.

The officials were also directed to hold discussions and plan works to be taken up in coordination with various departments for the road works.

The Public Works department, Kerala Water Authority, Major-Minor Irrigation departments, and the city Corporation should together on a war-footing address the problem of waterlogging in parts of the city by Thursday. In the wake of warning of more rain in the next few days, officials till the grassroots level in these departments should review the situation in each area in advance and plan activities accordingly.

The departments concerned should submit reports to the District Collector on steps being taken to prevent waterlogging. The Collector would submit a report in this connection to the government. The Collector should convene a meeting of officials of the departments concerned every evening to review the activities. Deputy Collectors should be entrusted with specific regions to address urgently waterlogging and other disasters in the city and the district during the monsoon. They should coordinate activities with the city Corporation and the government machinery, the Minister said.

Mayor Arya Rajendran; MLAs Kadakampally Surendran, Antony Raju, and V.K. Prasanth; District Collector Geromic George; Additional District Magistrate Premji C.; and Subcollector Aswathy Srinivas attended the meeting.