With the process of land acquisition for widening the Thuravoor-Oachira stretch of National Highway (NH) 66 making slow progress, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been asked to hasten laying of alignment stones.
Sources said that a meeting attended by District Collector S. Suhas recently, the NHAI had promised to complete the process by November 10. “The land acquisition is going behind schedule. The NHAI had laid alignment stones at Thuravoor in the first week of August, but later found some variations. They stopped the process and directed the consultancy to recheck it. Although, they recently restarted laying alignment stones from Thuravoor to Oachira, it is to be seen whether they will be able to complete the process within the stipulated time. The NHAI has already missed deadlines,” said an official.
Before Feb 15, 2019
All procedures related to acquiring land should be completed before February 15, 2019 for issuing 3D notification (declaration of acquisition). Otherwise, the 3A notification would become invalid. “Once the alignment stones are laid, the Revenue Department will launch survey for acquiring land. It is a time-consuming effort as the land to be acquired is spread over several survey numbers. It is going to be a race against time as we need to complete the process by the middle of January and submit a detailed report to the Centre for issuing 3D notification,” the official added.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had earlier issued a notification, which set in motion the process of land acquisition. As per the mandatory notification (dated February 15, under Section 3A of the National Highway Act, 1956), 126.6 hectares of government and private land would be acquired for NH development in the district.
The plan is to widen the 81.6-km stretch of the NH between Thuravoor and Oachira into four lanes of 45 metres. A special unit under the Revenue Department has been entrusted with the land acquisition.
The land to be acquired as per the 3A notification is in the villages of Thuravoor South, Pattanakkad, Kadakkarappally, Vayalar East, Cherthala North, Cherthala South, Kokkothamangalam, Thanneermukkom North, Mararikulam North, Kanjikuzhi, Kalavoor, Pathirappally, Mannancherry, Komalapuram, Aryad South, Paravoor, Punnapra, Ambalapuzha, Purakkad, Thrikkunnapuzha, Karuvatta, Kumarapuram, Haripad, Karthikapally, Pallipad, Chingoli, Cheppad, Pathiyoor, Keerikkad, Kayamkulam, and Krishnapuram.
