Demolition of 2nd carriage way to begin Oct 24

KOCHI: The demolition of the second carriage way of the North Rail Overbridge will begin on October 24 immediately after the demolition of the first way. The decision came at the review meeting on the demolition of the North RoB held here on Wednesday. Keeping in view the continued delay in the repair work of the Pachalam-Chathiath road stretch, the Metro Rail will take up the work from the corporation.“One of the main issues in connection with the demolition of the second path is the delay in the repair work of the Pachalam-Chathiath stretch. In order to facilitate the process, the Metro Rail has decided to take up the repair work. It is expected to be completed by October 24,” Kochi Metro Rail Limited managing director Tom Jose said.  Meanwhile, the corporation has another week to rehabilitate the vendors under the North Overbridge. But the Metro Rail head dismissed reports about this affecting the demolition of the overbridge.The KSRTC has approved the plying of more late night circular bus services along the Vytilla Mobility Hub to address the ongoing crisis. The shortage of buses and drivers was the main factor restraining the addition of more buses, KSRTC officials said.Meanwhile, the work on the new KSRTC garage will begin in 15 days. Once the new garage is completed, the old one will be demolished. This is expected to speed up the work on the Salim Rajan ROB. The work on the land acquisition on the Banerjee Road-Madhava Pharmacy stretch and that on the Madhava Pharmacy-Jos Junction stretch will be taken up in the coming days. But the managing director dismissed fears about the protests from business establishments on the stretch. “The buildings will be largely unaffected by the acquisition. Of course there will be some encroachments on every road and they will have to be removed,” he said.