Plea to expedite Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road widening work

June 22, 2014 01:15 pm | Updated 01:18 pm IST - Kozhikode

Historian and Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Committee presidentM.G.S. Narayanan holds talks with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy inKozhikode on Saturday. — PHOTO: K. RAGESH

Historian and Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Committee presidentM.G.S. Narayanan holds talks with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy inKozhikode on Saturday. — PHOTO: K. RAGESH

The Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Committee on Saturday submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy seeking immediate steps to begin road-widening work.

Historian M.G..S. Narayanan, along with other council leaders, gave a detailed memorandum to the Chief Minister explaining the current status of the project.

Talking to The Hindu , Dr. Narayanan said the council would resort to stronger mode of protest if the government failed to take up the project work.

“We have been waiting for the project for the last three-and-a-half years. But, there has been no progress; the Ministers concerned just make public statements,” he said..

Dr. Narayanan said the government had given a clear assurance during previous discussions on the timely release of Rs.100 crore for the widening works of the 8.4-kilometre stretch of road falling under the Kozhikode City Road Improvement Project. “Nearly eight months after the promise, no fund has been transferred to the account of the district administration to begin work,” he said.

Dr. Narayanan, committee working president Mathew Kattikkana and general secretary M.P. Vasudevan also drew the attention of the Chief Minister to the increasing number of accidents on the undeveloped narrow road. As per official details accessed by the action committee leaders through an RTI request and later submitted for the consideration of the Chief Minister, there were no fewer than 87 deaths and over 600 injuries in accidents on the route in the past three-and-a-half years.

Mr. Chandy responded positively to the complaint and promised immediate action. He assured the leaders that a solution to the issue would be found before June 27 in discussion with Kozhikode MP M.K. Raghavan.

The action council leaders also called a meeting of the other committee members in the city and discussed the possible protest campaigns to speed up the project implementation. Representatives of six residents’ associations and various citizens’ forums took part in the meeting.

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