Potholes menace for Kochi’s motorists becomes worse thanks to COVID-19

KOCHI: Every year, during the monsoon, every motorist and pedestrian in Kochi has the same set of laments. The city’s arterial roads wither away with numerous potholes that test the driving skills of motorists, especially two-wheelers. With the pandemic having slowed down repair works in the last year, the city is looking at a more pathetic scenario.

Many motorists and pedestrians have narrowly escaped serious accidents. But commuters point out that taking shortcuts to bypass the traffic on main roads has become a risky business now. “Interior roads are not safe at all. Apart from deep potholes along the side of the roads, many holes dug up by Kerala Water Authority (KWA) to lay their pipelines have been lying open for a while. Though their work is over, they haven’t taken the effort to cover them,” said Bipin VK, a student from Karukappilly.