Court directives fail to wake up Corporation

KOCHI: Every time the Kochi Corporation authorities are pulled up by the judiciary for the pathetic state of roads, familiar answers pervade the courtroom.Persistent rain,  poor contract management, meagre resources, paucity of funds - the reasons remain the same for cardinal delays in repairing roads. Given the precedents, people perhaps can expect nothing more than lame excuses from the powers that be and ride through back-breaking potholes.The Kerala High Court has, on several occasions, come down heavily on the government for the delay in taking up the maintenance of roads.  In its latest observation, the court remarked that the bad condition of roads is ‘shameful’ to the state and that the attitude of the government posed a challenge to the public. The court also expressed its dissatisfaction over the failure of the government in repairing roads despite an earlier order.On September 1, the High Court had directed the corporation to complete the road work within three weeks. Even as people looked forward to better roads, after three weeks, the corporation secretary submitted an affidavit stating that heavy downpour and adverse climatic conditions had affected the repair and maintenance of city roads. In the case of several roads, even though tenders have been invited, heavy rain had been obstructing work, it was pointed out.The corporation further said that there was shortage of funds to carry out the repair of all roads within the corporation limits in a single phase. The corporation has to pay more than Rs. 30 crore to the contractors who had completed works during the past two years. The money could not be paid owing to lack of funds. Owing to the non-payment of funds, the contractors have been protesting vehemently and even abstaining from submitting tenders, the corporation secretary submitted.After three weeks, a petition highlighting the bad condition of roads came up for hearing before the court and the corporation sought four more months to complete the maintenance work. It was then that the High Court said that the plea to extend the time limit would not be allowed if the action taken report is unsatisfactory. The case has been posted to October 18 for further hearing.