Chittoor residents angry over timing of culvert work

Kochi: Chittoor-Cheranellore residents are livid over the reconstruction work that has been undertaken on a culvert on the Chittoor-Cheranellore road at Shappupadi junction in Chittoor due to the hardship they are forced to face because of it. Residents say that the "right work is done at the wrong time" referring to the monsoon rains which are in full swing.

However, local MLA Hibi Eden has written back to a resident who shot off a letter to him, stating that the formalities for undertaking the work could be completed only now after which the works were started.

“A new culvert is a necessity as the 50-year-old culvert had almost disappeared. However, the time chosen by the authorities for the work is wrong. It should have been done one month back when the schools were on holiday and it was summer. Though there are drains on both sides of the road leading to Chittoor Ferry from Shapumpadi, the road and the area are waterlogged after each rain. The Cheranellore panchayat authorities could have taken steps to end all this much before.  They could have repaired the Chittoor Temple-Kolarikkal Junction road, which is the alternative to the road now being repaired. However, currently that road remains narrow and with a lot of potholes,” said Mohan Mangattusseril, secretary and treasurer, Panchayat Area Residents Welfare Association, S Chittoor, in his open letter to the authorities.

In his reply to the letter, Hibi Eden MLA shared the concerns of Mohan. “But you should understand that there are certain facts that prevail in the system. We have to go through a lot of procedures before sanctioning a project even if it is a 25-m drainage. Once we get sanction and if we do not do it, the system is such that the work might not take place again or there would be a rate revision because of which we will have to spend more time and money....sometimes the contractors would drop out at the last moment. The above mentioned culvert is a very important one and work on it has to be done at the earliest so that we can start our central road fund (CRF) work after the monsoon settles. The alternate road which you mentioned also is included in the CRF,” Hibi Eden said.