CPM, BJP vying for limelight over early reconstruction of Kochi flyover

The Palarivattom flyover in Kochi city, which was in the news over its poor construction quality and subsequent arrest of a minister for the corruption in construction, is now emerging as a poll campaign topic in Kerala.

After the reconstruction of the flyover was completed in five months against the targeted time of 18 months and was opened for traffic on Sunday, the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) is highlighting the swift completion of the reconstruction as an achievement, while the BJP is highlighting it as the achievement of 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan, who recently joined the BJP, as Sreedharan was directly heading the reconstruction work in his capacity as Delhi Metro Rail Corporation principal advisor.

The inauguration function on Sunday had to be limited to an informal affair due to the model code of conduct. But it witnessed both the LDF and the NDA workers staging demonstrations staking the claims.

The fly-over on NH-66 was reconstructed at a cost of Rs 42 crore and commissioned in October 2016. But it had to be closed in 2019 May following safety concerns.

Earlier when there were different opinions on whether the flyover had to be reconstructed or only required strengthening, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had given weightage to E Sreedharan’s opinion highlighting his expertise.

However, while announcing the reopening of the flyover, he avoided Sreedharan's name but hailed DMRC and the labour firm Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society that carried out the work. On Sunday when the flyover was reopened, Vijayan shared the picture of the workers on the flyover, thanking them.

However, Public Works Minister G Sudhakaran, who made the first trip on the reconstructed bridge on Sunday, did not shy away from naming Sreedharan. He said that the swift completion of the flyover reconstruction was the outcome of the joint efforts of the DMRC team headed by Sreedharan, ULCC and the government.

Recently BJP Kerala president K Surendran had highlighted the reconstruction of Palarivattom flyover ahead of time when he announced Sreedharan as BJP's chief ministerial candidate.