The government and Corporation land that is to be used for the widening of the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road will be cleared of all structures and buildings and readied for the work by August 31. A high-level meeting convened by the Chief Minister in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday decided that the District Level Purchase Committee (DLPC) would fix the value of the land by the end of July.
It was decided at the meeting to sanction Rs.100 crore for the development of the road in the Supplementary Demands for Grant by the end of the current financial year while the rest will be sanctioned in the annual budget in March. The work on the road will be carried out along with that on six other city roads. Tenders have been called for all the seven roads and the proceedings will be completed by January 2015.
Officer appointedExecutive Engineer (Roads and Buildings), Wayanad, and the former coordinator for the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Development, Sabu K. Philip has been appointed as the Special Officer for land acquisition and other procedures. The project progress will be reviewed every month by a committee. Action committee chairman M.G.S. Narayanan, working president Mathew Kattikkana and general secretary M.P. Vasudevan will be part of the committee.
It was decided at the meeting to buy private lands needed for the road development and land acquisition would take place only if there were disputes or the owners were unwilling to sell, Mr. Kattikana said.
The meeting was convened following a hunger strike organised by the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Committee led by historian M.G.S. Narayanan at the collectorate on July 5, alleging neglect by the government with regard to the project.
