Amid protests from local residents agitating against the alignment of the proposed Kannur bypass, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) staff on Tuesday started the work on erecting alignment stones along the stretch of land at Kottakunnu here notified for acquisition for a bypass project.
The protesting residents tried to stop the NHAI staff from erecting the alignment stone in the morning.
The police personnel posted in large number in the area in view of the agitation arrested the protesters and took them to the Valapattanam police station here.
The agitation against the alignment notified in the 3(A) Notification of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is being launched by an action committee of residents of Kottakunnu alleging that the alignment of the Kannur bypass from Chungam to Chala would result in eviction of large number of families and cause environmental damage.
Action committee chairman M.A. Hamza said nearly 100 residents gathered in the area to protest against the stone erecting. The agitation did not cause any tense situation in the area, he said.
Earlier plan
The action committee alleged that the change of previous alignment prepared in 2016 and subsequent finalisation of the present alignment remained a puzzle as the former was better and more convenient.
Surveys had been done thrice for the bypass since 2011 and 3(A) Notifications had been published twice and survey stones erected. As many as 65 families would have to be evicted if the present alignment was fixed. The action committee suspects that the previous alignment was changed because of high-level intervention.
Police personnel led by Kannur Deputy Superintendent of Police P.P. Sadanandan were present in the area.
