Muddy woes for KSRTC: Rs 55L resurfacing work going waste

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After much persuasion, the KSRTC may have succeeded in getting its slush-filled Karikkamury parking ground resurfaced by KMRL (Kochi Metro Rail Ltd) at a cost of Rs 55 lakh and the work covering half the ground is nearing completion.

But the very purpose of the work, i.e. to avoid buses getting stuck in the mud especially during the monsoon season, is not being served as the other half of the ground, which includes the entrance, is still filled with mud.

Out of the nearly 8,000-sq meter parking ground, the KMRL is carrying out resurfacing work, including laying of interlocking tiles, at a cost of nearly Rs 55 lakh, only on 4,092 sq metres of land .

“The remaining nearly 4,000-sq meters of land will continue to be filled with slush and buses will yet again get stuck in the mud once it rains,” KSRTC CITU district secretary T.P. Venu said.

Incidents of buses getting stuck in mud are frequent at Karikkamury parking ground near the Ernakulam KSRTC depot. On May 3, a total of 24 buses got trapped resulting in the cancellation of trips and a loss of nearly Rs 2 lakh to the corporation.

The land at Karikkamury was provided to the corporation by the Kochi Metro Project Ltd as compensation for the 1.12-acre land acquired at the bus station to build the Salim Raja flyover.

“We are thankful to the KMRL for agreeing to resurface half the area of the ground. But we cannot compel them to cover the entire area as they are doing a favour.

We’d like to resurface the remaining area by ourselves. But we’ve not conceived any project as such due to shortage of funds,” a top official said.