more-in Even as June 2019 has been fixed as the deadline to commission the Kochi metro’s Maharaja’s College Ground-Thykoodam stretch, the progress of work has slowed down at numerous sites due to shortage of workers, it is learnt. A complaint was already rife that a couple of firms engaged in civil work were not keeping up with schedule. Now, they are citing shortage of migrant labourers from West Bengal due to the impending local body polls. More workers are expected in another three weeks, official sources said. “Still, we are trying our best to adhere to the deadline for the corridor up to Thykoodam. Taking the metro beyond here to Pettah is suffering delay, thanks to the delay in handing over land and in shifting utility pipelines / cables. KMRL is in charge of shifting utilities on the Kunnara Park-Pettah stretch. It will take two years after shifting utilities to ready the Thykoodam-Pettah stretch for commissioning,” said Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) sources. The Champakkara bridge on the stretch too has to be replaced with a four-lane one within the time span. Apart from readying a 95-metre-long balanced cantilever structure being built over the tracks at the Ernakulam Junction railway station, reconstructing the bridge is the most critical task in the corridor, they added. Meanwhile, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) managing director A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish inspected the metro’s Maharaja’s College Ground-Petta and Palarivattom-Kakkanad stretches on Friday to evaluate the progress of the ongoing civil work. The inspection began from Jos Junction, with halts at Ernakulam Junction railway station, Vyttila Mobility Hub, Champakkara, and Petta. Later, the team inspected the metro’s proposed Kakkanad extension. They went up to Infopark and the SmartCity area, where Mr. Hanish held discussions with InfoPark CEO Hrishikesh Nair and SmartCity CEO Manoj Nair. “The work from Maharaja’s Ground station is on schedule and is progressing satisfactorily. On Kakkanad, we are expecting speedy approval from the Central and State governments. The visit was to understand and evaluate the work in progress and to explore the possibilities of effectively extending the metro to InfoPark and SmartCity,” Mr. Hanish said. He was accompanied by KMRL director (projects) Thiruman Archunan, director (systems) D.K. Sinha, and director (finance) Kumar K.R.

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