Land acquisition for the widening of National Highway (NH) 66 is nearing completion in Alappuzha. Of the 106.14 hectares of land needed for the project, 102.09 hectares has been acquired.
Preliminary works such as ground-levelling, slab construction, and building of service roads have begun at various places where land acquisition has been completed.
The 81.6-km stretch of NH 66 from Thuravoor to Oachira will be widened to 45 metres. The work is carried out in three reaches—Thuravoor-Paravoor, Paravoor-Kayamkulam-Kottankulangara and Kottankulangara-Oachira. “Over 96% of the land required for the project in Alappuzha has been acquired. The process of acquiring the rest of the land is going on. Of 106. 14 hectares, 93.55 hectares is private land and 12.59 hectares is puramboke land,” said an official on Wednesday.
Officials said a sum of ₹2,882.15 crore had been distributed as compensation. “The distribution of compensation has entered its final phase. The government has sanctioned ₹3,180.53 crore for acquiring land in the district. We have so far distributed 90.62% of the money. In Cherthala, ₹4,48,451 has been given as compensation for each cent of land acquired. In Alappuzha and Haripad, people received ₹4,94,172 and ₹5,40,539 respectively. Besides, people also got compensation for houses, other structures, trees and so on,” the official said.
The compensation was fixed by the Union and State governments as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
Meanwhile, the demolition of structures along the stretch is nearing completion. “Of the total 4,807 buildings identified for demolition, 4,505 have been razed. These include 1,341 structures on the Thuravoor- Paravoor stretch, 2,731 on Paravoor-Kayamkulam-Kottankulangara, and 433 buildings between Kottankulangara and Oachira,” the official added.
District Collector V.R. Krishna Teja recently reviewed the progress of the new bridge being constructed at Malikamukku as part of the NH development.
