Incomplete Sahodaran Ayyappan Road opened

KOCHI: Though officially inaugurated, the Sahodaran Ayyappan (S A) Road gives little scope to the Kochi Corporation to boast about, as the work on the road is yet to be completed.While the Corporation officials claim that the inauguration was scheduled according to the minister’s availability, much work needs to be done on the west extension of S A Road as well as the stretch from Puthenpalam to Vyttila.The civic body has not only failed to complete these tasks before the inauguration but also neglected the fact that the said stretch also lacks basic facilities like proper footpaths, handrails and closed drains.As per the plan, the road was to be straightened and widened to 22-metres along with the renovation of footpaths and drains. Though the work of the road has completed, the drains are yet to be covered. The drains on the Puthenpalam-Vyttila stretch of the S A Road are mostly open and clogged.Though, the widening of the road has been on paper for long, the work has been completed only on the 3.4 kilometre stretch from Pallimukku to Puthenpalam, using `9.71 crore of JNNURM funds. There was also a proposal to convert S A Road into a model road, linking it with the Church Landing Road to make it easy for vehicles to enter the central city commercial area. Meanwhile, the west extension of S A Road is completely neglected.Works Standing Committee chairperson Soumini Jain said, “As the road has been officially inaugurated, the rest of the work will be completed soon.”