For Valanthakad islanders, a bridge remains a distant dream

Work on 165-metre structure, launched in November 2019, has been suspended

The pier caps staring skyward seem to mock the nearly 50 Scheduled Caste families of the ecologically sensitive Valanthakad island, as their decades-old demand for a bridge remains far from being fulfilled.

Work on the 165-metre bridge, which would have given the islanders easy access to the neighbouring Maradu municipality, has been suspended. The construction work, estimated to cost ₹5.50 crore, was launched with much fanfare on November 1, 2019. The bridge was supposed to be commissioned within 18 months, a deadline that the executing agency, Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company Limited (KEL), has failed to comply with.

“To begin with, KEL is unfit for executing such a project. They had promised to resume the work within two months at a meeting held on December 3. But having noticed no progress whatsoever, I have moved the government to terminate their contract and re-tender the work at their risk and cost as they are the ones at fault,” said K. Babu, Thripunithura MLA.