Suhas warns of charging road repair expenses from erring officials’ pay

Annoyed by laxity on the part of officials and contractors in repairing numerous damaged roads in the city and its suburbs despite repeated expiry of deadlines, District Collector S .Suhas on Monday warned erring officials that he would register cases against them, get road repair done under his direct supervision and also deduct the expenses from their salaries.

“You have to have some responsibility. We are getting salary from taxes paid by members of the public. It is not proper when we do not do the work. How many times do I need to tell you this! I’m also sick and tired of holding such meetings,” he told officials of civic agencies who offered excuses for not completing repair works meant to be done by them.

A fortnight ago, the Collector had initiated action using his magisterial powers, under Section 133 of Cr.P.C. (conditional order for removal of nuisance), since the Kochi Corporation and Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) failed to commence repair work on five major roads. He had issued a directive a day before that to complete repair works of 45 major roads on a war footing.

He handed over photographs of repaired roads submitted by officials to the Ernakulam DCP for ground-level verification. The police report will be complemented by first-hand verification that will be done by Mr. Suhas. He further directed officials to post the photos in public domain so that the public can verify their authenticity. He directed officials to restore all potholed stretches by September 26.

Reacting to reports of non-completion of repairs on many roads, Mr. Suhas said he would invoke stronger sections if the work status information provided by each agency with photographs did not match with the situation on ground. “I will register case against you in case there is further delay and photos of road repair works do not match with the condition of roads,” he said.

The revised deadline fixed by Mr. Suhas to repair 45 arterial and side roads expired on Saturday. Most roads remained potholed despite expiry of the deadline. They included the vicinity of flyover worksites at Vyttila and Kundannoor, which were handed over to PWD (NH wing) by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Officials of different agencies and the traffic police were present at Monday’s meeting.