Welcome to eternal chaos

KOCHI: Hardly days remaining for the trial run in connection with the demolition of the Ernakulam Town rail overbridge (ROB) to commence, various agencies are at loggerheads over the preparations to handle the chaos ahead.Reflecting the difference of opinion among these agencies, the one-week trial run has  been reduced to a one-day event.According to the police, the traffic diversions suggested is not feasible. “First of all, the time they have selected for the trial run is not appropriate. During Onam, the traffic will be at its peak in the city. How can they expect to conduct the trial run, especially as most of the roads on to which the traffic will be diverted are not in proper condition? a top police official said. “We have submitted a request to the City Police Commissioner seeking a change in the date. The Commissioner is expected to bring it to the notice of the Collector,” he said.Police official said the work on the Chittoor Road has begun and similar works on the other roads would be completed after Onam. “So, rescheduling the trial run for the second week of September will be a better option,” the official said.Even the Kochi Corporation is dead against the decision to conduct the trial run this week. Mayor Tony Chammany said: “We had made our stand clear to the Chief Minister concerning our disapproval. Even he had agreed that the perfect time to conduct the trial would be after Onam.”The Mayor pointed out that the Corporation should be consulted while taking decisions affecting the city. Government officials alone cannot take a decision on such issues, he said.“The whole purpose of conducting a trial run on this particular day is to regulate traffic during the worst possible situation. With the extra traffic in the wake of Onam, we agree it will be extremely difficult to control the traffic,” Kochi Metro Rail Nodal Officer Tom Jose said. He said it is the only scientific way to assess the impact of the diversion.“We cannot simply theorise everything on paper without doing a trial run. If the public has been travelling through the bad roads for so many months, I think a one-day trial run is not going to affect them much,” he said.