With the Thripunithura Bypass project making no headway even 32 years after land acquisition began for it, the action council constituted to surmount obstacles in its commissioning placed wreaths on a survey stone on NH 85, on Friday.
It was the latest among the string of protests undertaken by the council against the inordinate delay in completing land acquisition for the project, the work on which began in 1989. “Little has been done at the ground level, despite the inclusion of the project in the Centre’s Bharatamala Pariyojana in November,” said Alias A.V., president of the council that is spearheading the agitation.
With neither the PWD (NH Wing) nor the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) committing to develop the bypass, he shot off a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2020. Subsequently, he received a communication from the Kochi office of the NHAI that the bypass had been included in the Kochi-Theni-Munnar Economic Corridor whose DPR was being prepared.
“Wreaths were placed on Friday, hoping that it would open the eyes of politicians to the plight of a few thousand land owners and others who have been affected by delay on the part of government agencies. We also placed boards nearby, saying that the bypass project would remain in our dreams even if we die before it was realised,” Mr. Alias said.
Addressing protesters, council representatives spoke of how there was much opposition to land acquisition for road projects. But that is not the case here, since people were willing to surrender land. Still, the project lagged for the past over three decades. Government agencies are not proactive in realising the project, which will decongest Thripunithura. The action council will step up protests and organise more wreath-laying protests if the authorities fail to respond, they said.
They added that the bypass was a necessity, since several industrial units, including the Kochi Refinery, are located in its vicinity. Wide roads are a must to ferry goods from such units and to handle emergency situations.
