Kerala Water Authority, PWD lock horns over restoring of roads

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city roads in the state are at the receiving end with the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) locking horns with Public Works Department (PWD) over the government order directing the agency cutting the road to do the restoration work.  

According to KWA they don’t have the expertise to fix roads as per the specification of PWD. It is learnt that the KWA is gearing up to enter into an agreement under AMRUT scheme with PWD to undertake the road restoration work.  

A top official of KWA said that several leaks have been found on city roads. “As per the government order restoration of roads by the agency doing the road cutting is not mandatory. But PWD is dumping that responsibility on us. We have no issue but we don’t have the required expertise. It’s a foolish decision as all the roads will be in ruin eventually. Our contractors can fix corporation roads but not the prime roads,” said the official. 

The KWA has placed the majority of the work orders for the year. “We will not be able to undertake restoration works immediately. We are planning to talk to PWD authorities and convince them to do the work," the official added.

While PWD authorities said that its better if the agency cutting the road do the restoration. “It’s very time consuming as we have to wait for the deposit from the agency for the restoration work. After that, we have to arrange the work. The Irrigation Department and PWD jointly took this decision,” said the official.