Protest held at NHAI office demanding exemption of Maradu residents from toll

A day after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) informed the Ernakulam District Collector that it would not be possible to temporarily exempt residents of Maradu from paying toll at the agency’s toll plaza at Kumbalam, the Maradu municipality alleged that it was aimed at scuttling the Collector’s demand to exempt residents of the region from paying toll, until the Kundannoor and Alexander Parambithara bridges were resurfaced.

The Public Works department (NH wing) had closed the bridges on October 15 for a month to scoop out their surface and to resurface them using the stone mastic asphalt method. Protesting against the NHAI’s decision not to give temporary exemption to Maradu residents, a demonstration was held at the authority’s project office here on Tuesday.

The protest was led by Maradu municipal chairman Antony Ashanparambil. “We decided to temporarily call off the protest on the assurance that the issue would be brought to the notice of the higher-ups in the NHAI. On its part, the PWD (NH wing) must deploy adequate workers and speed up the resurfacing work on the Kundannoor bridge,” he said.

A meeting chaired by the District Collector on Friday had decided to request the NHAI to temporarily exempt Maradu residents, considering the month-long closure of the two bridges that connected areas like Maradu and Kundannoor with Willingdon Island and West Kochi. With the bridge being closed, commuters are forced to ply through the toll plaza to reach West Kochi and the island through Edakochi, travelling over 10 km extra.

Published - October 23, 2024 02:02 am IST