Mayor denies charge

KOCHI: Denying the allegations that the inefficiency of the corporation in evacuating the vendors from under the North rail overbridge (RoB) was the reason for the delay in executing the reconstruction of the work, Mayor Tony Chammany said that the civic body has so far extended maximum support to the project. “As per the original plan, the vendors who will be evacuated from the North RoB were supposed to be rehabilitated at the shops to be constructed by the Kerala Roads and Bridges Development Corporation (RBDCK) under the Pulleppady RoB. But so far the RBDCK has not started the construction and we have offered them temporary shelter under the Irumpanam RoB. But the vendors are not ready to move to Irumpanam,” Chammany said.“Instead of Irumpanam, the vendors are now asking for rehabilitation at the property owned by the corporation at Ernakulam North, where the Mythri auditorium once stood. But the demand is yet to be discussed at the council meeting and the civic body will not be able to take a final stand in this regard without the council’s nod,” the Mayor added. Metro Rail Ltd director P Sriram had said that the corporation could have speeded up the evacuation process to help the DMRC implement the project in a time-bound manner. “We have discussed the issue with the Mayor. We hope the corporation will soon take necessary steps to rehabilitate the vendors,” Sriram said.