The Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Committee has alleged a conspiracy to sabotage the widening of the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu stretch of the National Highway that passes through the city, and demanded that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy order a probe.
Committee president M.G.S. Narayanan, working committee president Mathew Kattikkana, and general secretary M.P. Vasudevan, said that several incidents including the missing files revealed that people with vested interests wanted to thwart the multi-crore project.
Other suspicious incidents were the notification of incomplete draft in gazette, exempting 87 cents of land from acquisition, failure to release a sum of Rs.10 crore sanctioned in June and the incorrect heading in the State government order sanctioning Rs.29 crore.
ADVERTISEMENT
And also the frequent transfers of officials involved in the project. Only a high-level probe could bring to light the conspiracy and the culprits behind this mischief, they said.
Mr. Vasudevan said the government had invited tenders and works started in six other road projects envisaged under the Kozhikode City Road Improvement Project (KCRIP). Only the project to widen the 8.4 km Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road faced such hurdles in implementation.
The residents suspect that some external and internal forces were behind the bid to scuttle the project since its inception. Two files were missing from the Vengeri and Chevayur village offices attached to the district Collectorate. These were recovered only after the Chief Minister intervened in the issue.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Vasudevan said the Chief Minister himself had taken part in three meetings in connection with the land acquisition of the project. It was also one of the mega projects announced during his mass contact programme in the district.
Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson has been entrusted with the reviewing of the implementation of the road projects in the city. Minister of Panchayats and Social Justice M.K. Muneer is in charge of KCRIP while District Collector N. Prasanth is its implementation officer.
Even in such a situation, if there are attempts to sabotage the project, it would be a conspiracy plotted at the high-level, Mr. Vasudevan said.
Panel suspects conspiracy behind incomplete notification in gazette
Flays delay in releasing Rs.10 crore sanctioned in June