The residents of Kalandithazham plan to restart protests against the ‘inordinate delay’ in taking a decision on the expansion of the Kalandithazham-Medical College road.
They say that no step has been taken yet on the decisions arrived at a meeting called by the District Collector in September 2012.
The proposed expansion has been mired in a controversy since a section of the road passes by the Regional Chemical Lab. The road action committee has been demanding widening of the road by 2 metres. With the expansion, the lab is set to lose land for a length of half a kilometre.
The lab authorities were of the opinion that the widening will hinder future development of the institution.
No need for takeover
In the meeting called by District Collector K.V. Mohan Kumar, the Joint Chemical Examiner said the Kalandithazham-Medical College road had a width of 4.5 metres and there was a non-tarred portion of 1.5 metres. Hence, there was enough space already without taking over land from the lab.
However, the road action committee members say the demand for the road existed even before the lab came into being.
It is a short cut to the Government Medical College for the people in the region. Since the area adjacent to the lab is a steep slope, many accidents had occurred here.
A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, had requested the lab authorities to spare at least 1 metre of land as a compromise. Following this, the District Collector had taken a decision to request sanction from the Home Department for the road widening by taking 1 metre of land from the lab and yet maintaining it under the lab’s ownership.
However, no action has been taken in this regard since the September meeting.
The residents plan to kick off their protests on Monday with a 15-minute road blockade.
