Flyover awaiting inauguration by CM in Kochi opened by activists

Kochi witnessed a protest of a different sort on Tuesday evening as a group of activists opened for traffic a flyover that has been awaiting formal inauguration although its work was completed last month.

It was the flyover at the busy Vyttila junction on National Highway 66 that witnessed the novel protest. It was scheduled to be formally opened on January 9 by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Police arrested four persons associated with a public forum name 'V4 Kochi'.

It was by around 7.30 pm on Tuesday that some unidentified people removed the barricades on one side of the flyover and allowed vehicles from the Alappuzha side (Southern side) to enter the flyover. Since it was peak hour, the flyover became congested with vehicles, including heavy ones, in no time.

A police party that was controlling traffic on the service roads beneath the flyover noticed it and rushed to the spot. It took several hours to clear the vehicles from the flyover. By late Tuesday night, four leaders of 'V 4 Kochi', including its coordinator Nipun Cheriayn, were nabbed by the police. They were accused of spreading wrong information through social media.

Since the load test of the flyover also was completed last month, the entry of vehicles did not pose any safety risk.

Kochi city was facing acute traffic congestion because of the flyover construction. Hence there has been a pressing demand from people to open the flyover at the earliest. 'V4 People', which even contested in elections, had earlier announced that they would open the flyover for traffic if the inauguration got delayed. There were also demonstrations raising this demand earlier.

The construction of the 700-metre long Vyttila flyover began in 2016. The work was over in December and load tests were also done. The cost of the construction came to Rs 86.34 crore.