KOCHI: The high court has criticized the state government and Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA) for not acquiring land for the approach road at the Pizhala end of the Moolampilly-Pizhala bridge which is presently under construction.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar was considering a petition filed by Aswin P J, president of Kerala Catholic Youth Movement, through advocate Sherry J Thomas.During hearing, advocate Santhosh Mathew had pointed out that Cherian Varkey Construction Company , which is building the bridge, has completed nearly 90% of the work. The delay in land acquisition, which is a time-consuming process, is going to delay the commissioning of the bridge, the counsel said.In an interim order, the court said: "The above projection makes us wonder as to how GIDA and the government could have visualized the construction of Moolampilly-Pizhala bridge without making provisions for acquiring land and connecting the bridge at both ends. Such half-hearted efforts would frustrate the work done so far and is not going to meet the aspiration of people, who are expecting the bridge to be made available for public use without any further loss of time."Further, the court asked state attorney K V Sohan to inform how soon a meeting of GIDA could be convened and asked to take urgent decisions regarding the incomplete bridge and other pending development works in Kothad area.The case will be heard again after two weeks.

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