The Welfare Party of India (WPI) of the Jamaát-e-Islami Hind has warned the Left Democratic Front government against widening the National Highway (NH) to 45 metres.
This comes close on the heels of the Additional Chief Secretary Subrata Biswas announcing that the process of acquiring land for NH widening will be completed within two months. The acquisition of land in Kozhikode district for the NH is from Azhiyur to Vengalam.
The Mahi-Thalassery bypass, Nandi-Chengottukkavu (Koyilandy) bypass and Vengalam- Ramanattukara (Kozhikode bypass) are part of the widening process. Land for the Kozhikode bypass has already been acquired.
WPI State president Hameed Vaniyambalam and district president Aslam Cheruvadi said the existing road could be converted into four-lane carriageway by widening the NH to 30 metres.
The decision to acquire land for widening the NH from Thalappadi to Kazhakkuttam and award the project work on Build-Operate-and- Transfer basis was unscientific. In the name of NH development, hundreds of families would be displaced, they said.
CM flayed
They said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had been misleading and threatening the masses in the name of road development, they said. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had decided to widen the NH to 60 m. However, the Chief Minister had said that the NHAI had permitted to widen the NH to 45 m, considering the special needs of the State.
The WPI leaders said this special consideration for Kerala was untrue as the NHAI had allowed the widening of the NH to 45 m in many States.
On the request of the Goa government, roads were widened to 30 m.
Such a measure should be adopted for Kerala in view of the density of population, they said.
Former Union Minister for Transport Oscar Fernandes had told the State government in 2013 that the NHs could be widened to 30 m. In 2014, the government also notified the sketch of the road widening. Now the Chief Minister had taken an arbitrary stance without looking into these aspects, they said.
