Potholes - a perennial problem. Kerala HC raps government yet again

Kochi: The High Court on Friday rapped the Kerala government for failing to convincingly address the fact that most of the roads in the state are in disrepair.

It has warned that if prompt action is not taken in the matter of filling up potholes on the road, then District Collectors will have to be summoned.

The court also pulled up the Public Works Department for the several lives that were lost in road accidents on account of the bad condition of roads.

In an earlier statement, the court had labelled these "man-made disasters".

It had also asked why people must be forced to pay a toll when roads are in such shoddy condition.

On Friday, an elderly man succumbed to injuries sustained after the bike he was riding on fell into a deep pothole at Chalackal on the Aluva-Perumbavoor route.

The accident happened at Pathiyatt junction on August 20. The local residents filled the pothole with concrete the day after the mishap.

The court saw this tragic incident as yet another grave failure of the public works department.

It asked why it had to fall to residents to fill up the pothole while the department officials were nowhere to be seen.

It has directed the officer in charge of repairing the Aluva-Perumbavoor road to appear before it on September 19.

When it argued that the elderly man had died not because of the pothole but instead of low blood sugar, the court warned the defendants against insulting the deceased.

The court also dismissed the defendant's excuse that the spell of rain that Kerala witnessed these past weeks had hindered the road's maintenance.