The
mantra of Oommen Chandy led UDF government is ‘with great speed more distance.’ But on the contrary here the life
of a common man is moving at snail's pace, this is the how the slogan is actually
translated into the life of common man. The life of a common man is always torn
asunder and his life is always at troubleshoots when the government which is
supposedly to work for his well being is always in quiescence.
If we
type out in Google Map to know the distance and time taken for Kaloor,
Ernakulam to Koothattukulam, commute it would show 47.3 km, 1 hour 25 mins. But
the actual time taken to reach the destination, wading through the whole
traffic chaos is almost 3 hours, is almost double of the projected time. It is
all because of the traffic woes created by the inaction of the government in
terms of infrastructure and roads.
How
much of the time, energy, health, money and above all how many life are being
wasted on the roads; due to the traffic congestion and badly managed roads, of
the daily commuters to the city from eastern corridors like Kanjirapilly,
Kottayam, Pala and Koothattukulam who solely dependent on buses. An average of
5 hours they spend on roads for their to and for journey and it is almost half
of the hours they spend at office. Even coming and returning from Ernakulam is
a whole day affair for people from those regions considering the heavy traffic
woes.
As far as the traffic woes are
concerned in the city, the immediate requirement of Kochi is flyovers not metro
rail project. Metro rail can only give a posh look to the city and get Kochi a
place in the map of metro cities of India.
The only corridor to enter into as well as to exist from the
Kochi city is the bypass segment of NH 47 as the flipside of the city is costal
area. So, in order to enter into the city, the vehicles need to pass through
the NH 47 at Edapally for the vehicles coming from Aluva side; at Pipeline for
the vehicles coming from Kakkanadu; at Vyttila for the vehicles coming from
Pala, Kottayam and Vaikom and at Kudannoor for the vehicles coming from
Alappuzha side. As the city has outgrown to the bypass which led bypass a heavy
suburban traffic.
Kerala is ought to learn from its neighboring states in
terms of infrastructural developments. The number of flyovers and subways are
built in the past one decade in our neighboring states; Tamil Nadu and
Karanataka are remarkable. If a flyover is built from Edapally junction and
ending at Kudannoor, which would be of 15kms length, (like in Bangalore, from
Madivala to Electornicity), will easily bypass the entire vehicles that is
passing through bypass segment of NH 47 from Edapally in the north to Aroor in
Alappuzha district. This would not create block for the vehicles that enter as
well as exist from the city via all the four traffic junctions at Edappally,
Pipeline Vyttila and Kudannoor.
Employees in 50km radius of Kochi are commuting to city on
daily basis and the total number of commuters who cross the bypass into enter
into the city would be one lakh. The metro project hyped as the immediate
remedy for the traffic woes would not operate in more than 15km radius in the
city.
The much awaited and acclaimed Metro Project is expected to
be completed in 2016 and upon completion there would not be any solution for
the traffic woes. Why the whole concentration is given to metro project alone?
To cater to the traffic facilities of Kochi, better known as the economical
capital of the state, along with the metro project simultaneously works of
flyovers should commence.
No comments:
Post a Comment