Alappuzha bypass: Hopes still alive

Hope is finally burning bright for the Alappuzha bypass, the future of which was caught in uncertainty for over 30 years now.

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, who convened a meeting here on Saturday to review the progress of works that were given budgetary allocations in March, has decided to call together two high-level meetings on May 10 at Thiruvananthapuram. The meetings will be to elicit the response of Railways and National Highway Authority of India officials on the budgetary plan to have two parallel roads, the one which will have two Rail-Over-Bridges, connected to the bypass.

The bypass, for which the land was acquired 30 years back, is from Kommadi on the north of Alappuzha town, to Kalarkode on the south. Only the 3.73 km-long first phase of the 7.58 km two-lane bypass has been completed, and that took 18 years. The remaining 3.85km, including 1.1 km alongside the Alappuzha beach, has been lying incomplete ever since, mainly due to confusions over whether or not to have a flyover alongside the Alappuzha beach and due to delays in sanctions from the Railways for the two ROBs.

With the local Public Works wing to submit an estimate on Wednesday and the May 10 meetings set to grant administrative sanction, work could begin by September.

The meeting, which reviewed progress of the Alappuzha Drinking Water Project under the Centre’s Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) and the Alappuzha Municipal Stadium, also decided to organise shortly a workshop that will have experts discussing the possibility of re-opening the canals in Alappuzha town to the sea so that flow of saline water can help cleansing the canals of garbage and hyacinth threats.

Progress on work for a Rs.25 crore-NABARD project to have Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plants for supply of treated water in Kuttanad, a bridge to the water-logged Nehru Trophy Ward and a new police station at Mannancherry were also reviewed.

District Collector P. Venugopal, Thomas Chandy and A.A. Shukoor, MLAs, P.P. Chitharanjan, Municipal Chairman and R. Nazar, District Panchayat president also spoke.