A final decision on the alignment of Pachalam ROB and the fate of 
the political opposition against it hangs in the outcome of Kochi 
Corporation’s council meeting slated for Monday.

While the ruling
party is all set to approve the realignment of the ROB  project, the
Opposition has decided to intensify protest inside and outside the
Corporation from Monday.

The LDF parties would walk out from the
council  if the agenda item on ROB’s re-design is approved against their
protest. They would also agitate against the ruling council outside the
Council meeting too.

Meanwhile, while the Corporation council
will discuss the agenda on Pachalam ROB, the Goshree-Pottakuzhi Action
Council would stage a dharna in front of the Corporation office on
Monday afternoon. The action council members said if the Corporation
approves the ROB re-design, they will immediately move to the DMRC
office at the Revenue Towers and would burn in effigy the ROB re-design
made by the DMRC.

The action council claims it would have around
500 people, including representations from the trader’s association, in
attendance for the agitation. It’s the third time the council is going
to discuss the ROB re-alignment. The long-pending ROB project at
Pachalam returned to the spotlight in December when the DMRC proposed a
10 metre ROB, which according to them would need merely `33 crore,
instead of the earlier proposed JNNURM-funded 22-meter ROB penned to
cost `136 crore.

In January, after a brief discussion, an agitated
opposition had walked out of the Council meeting against this
re-alignment proposal.

The first council meeting of February ended
with the opposition parties staging a dharna in front of the Mayor’s
chamber, and writing to the authorities against giving approval to the
realignment without a discussion in the council.  It is after creating
such mayhem that the council is bracing itself for a formal discussion
and to give a final word on the ROB on Monday.

“The 22 metre-wide
ROB proposed under JNNURM was conceived to decongest traffic in the
city. But, the new design of a narrow 10m bridge is an attempt to
suffice vested interests and garner votes in the coming election,
jeopardizing development of the city,” said Opposition leader K J Jacob.
However, the Congress councillors and other members of the ruling
council said that the Opposition is playing politics on the ROB issue as
polls are around the corner.