The Nadakkavu Vikasana Samiti (NVS) staged a dharna at East Nadakkavu on Wednesday demanding the State government to expedite the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road widening work.
“For the last two decades we have been demanding widening of the 8.4 km arterial stretch. Hundreds have either lost their lives or severely injured in the accidents there. Two persons including a school student were killed last month. The East Nadakkavu road is a death-trap for pedestrians and two- wheelers as well,” K.P. Sathyakrishnan, secretary, NVS, said.
The NVS would launch an indefinite hunger strike from November 1 and picketing of the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road if the government failed to go ahead with the project, he said.
Environmentalist A. Achuthan, anti-corruption campaigner K.P. Vijayakumar, DCC president K.C. Abu, BJP district president T.P. Jayachandran, IUML leader T.K. Abdul Latheef, councillors T.C. Bijuraj (CPI-M), P. Kishenchand (Janata Dal (United), and Navyva Haridas (BJP) met the NVS activists to express their solidarity.
Meanwhile, the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Committee led by historian M.G.S. Narayanan has urged the government to include the road widening project under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). Earlier the government had announced that seven roads in the district will be renovated using funds from the KIIFB, which has been newly created by the government to raise additional resources for infrastructure development outside the State Plan fund.
Finance Minister’s promise
Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, who visited Kozhikode on August 1, had promised that the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road widening project would be the first venture under the KIIFB. Subsequently a report had been submitted by Kozhikode North MLA A. Pradeepkumar, stating that a sum of Rs.284 crore was required for the project, M.P. Vasudevan, general secretary, action committee said.
He urged the authorities to remove the electric and telephone poles from the land acquired for widening the road, carry out improvement works in the accident-prone areas at East Nadakkavu and Paroppady and make arrangements for free left turn at Malaparamba junction.
