Seeking a fair deal on the part of the State government and district administration, a collective of 120 residents’ associations in the city will form five people’s action councils to campaign for completing the works on five major roads included in the City Road Improvement Project (CRIP).
District coordination committee of residents’ associations says that their goal is to unite all residents for the cause following in the footsteps of the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action Council.
Collective effort
It was the collective action and pressure tactics adopted by the action council that cleared the grounds for the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road development project. It also had the patronage of historian M.G.S. Narayanan.
Action committees will be formed mainly for the completion of five roads namely Stadium-Puthiyara road; Kovoor-Vellimadukunnu road; Karaparamba-Eranhipalam and Arayidathupalam-Kalluthankadavu road; Gandhi Road-Mini bypass and Kuniyilkadavu-Mavoor Road Junction road; Pushpa Junction and Mankavu Junction and Panathuthazham-CWRDM road.
The mode of protest will be finalised in a week, they add.
“Only the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road project has so far got some attention after a series of intense protests by the residents’ action council. The plight of all other roads included in CRIP still remains the same,” says K.P. Abdul Latheef, president of the Residents’ Apex Council of Kozhikode.
He adds that the road works have not begun even in areas where no public protest is visible against land acquisition or road-widening proposal.
Like the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu Road Action committee, the apex council will also strive to be a mediator for solving regional issues obstructing the project. If landowners are not willing to cooperate, then all support will be extended to the district administration to tackle the problem legally, they add.