Kakkanad: The government rest house at Kunnumpuram junction near Kakkanad witnessed high drama on Friday after minister for public works G. Sudhakaran paid a surprise visit to the property which had been lying ill-maintained and unused for over a year.
The minister, accompanied by a group of local MLAs, stopped by while passing through Civil Line Road, after being informed by his entourage that the property belonged to the PWD.
They could not enter the building as its premises were overrun with shrubs and thorny bushes and the gate was locked.
The minister directed the officials to summon PWD (Buildings) executive engineer, but she was away on an official assignment.
Immediately, the engineer instructed the overseer to rush to the spot, but as she could not find the key, the lock was broken to enable the minister and the MLAs to enter the building.
The overseer informed the minister that the property had been earmarked to allocate to the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and that the rest house had already been shifted to Edappally.
The minister then sought the file concerned and comforted the lady overseer who was visibly shaken. Following which officials concerned rushed to the spot with the file. As they could not produce the file regarding the Cabinet decision to allocate the property to the KMRL, the minister took the file with him. He did not forget to give in writing to the executive engineer that the file is in his possession.
Before leaving the place, the minister also instructed the officials to reopen of the facility at the earliest.