The business community is divided over the issue of widening of the national highways in the State.
While there is unanimity of opinion among the traders on the need to improve the infrastructure for smooth transport, apprehensions are being raised by certain trade bodies on some of the proposals on road widening, especially the mode of execution and the compensation package for the affected.
The Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi is initiating a campaign against the existing plans for the widening of highways. The organisation is launching a rally across the State in a bid to mobilise opinion on the need for an acceptable formula on road widening. The organisation is not opposed to the widening activity in principle, but wants the authorities to evolve specific guidelines on the compensation and other matters that concern the people in general and the traders in particular.
The traders on either side of the roads will be the worst affected by the widening work and their rehabilitation is of prime importance. Taking up the work in the absence of stipulated framework would hit the traders hard, Mariyil Krishnan Nair, a leader of the association, told The Hindu .
Reacting to the planned campaign, Kerala Merchants' Union leader L.A. Joshy said it was unnecessary. The merchants would be prime beneficiaries of widened roads, he said. The majority of merchants in Ernakulam were in support of the project, according to him.
The Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry has extended support to the project. The trade organisation is in the forefront of a movement to mobilise public opinion on the issue. It will take part in a symposium on the issue to be organised under the aegis of the Kerala Development Forum, an umbrella organisation of various trade bodies and residents' associations, in the city on Wednesday.
A widened national highway would enable people to reach Kochi from Thiruvananthapuram in three hours, said K.M. Abdulla, chairman of the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and industry.
