KWA tunnels: Traffic goes haywire

KOCHI: With the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) digging up the road, traffic along the Thevara-Kundannoor Road has gone out of gear. With the onset of monsoon, the situation has worsened.The pipe-laying work by the KWA is said to be the reason for the delay in completing the work. If the work had started earlier, it could have been completed before the onset of monsoon.According to the KWA officials, the work will be completed within a week. "The pipe-laying work is almost complete. It will take four or five more days to complete the restoration work of the road," said Mathew Joseph, KWA project coordinator, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)."We started the work around 20 days ago. It got delayed as there are many branches for the pipeline. Moreover, the work is being carried out only during the night so as to avoid traffic snarls," he said.It is to lay the pipeline connecting the Maradu Water Plant and the overhead tank in Thevara that the road was dug up.The road is being dug up in the middle and this adds to the traffic woes. It is to protect other pipelines going through the sides of the road that the KWA decided to dig the middle portion of the road.