Kozhikode: The National Highway Authority (NHA) is confident that the widening of the national highways in Kozhikode district can be done in time as the survey proceedings, which were stalled due to public protest, is now progressing at a steady pace. The land survey proceedings in Kannur district also proceeding steadily, while in Kasargod also things are improving. In Malappuram district, however, the move faces stiff resistance still.
The NHA team claims progress amid massive resistance from residents of Puthuppanam near Vadakara and also Azhiyur in Mahe. As per the State Government’s plan, the widening of NH 17 and NH 47 undertaken by the Public Works Department, has a total of 96.2 km of the NH network in Malabar that would be expanded to a width of 45 meters while another 283 kilometers would be widened to 30 meters.
The special officer for the project Kozhikode Deputy Collector Shamin Sebastian told DC that the survey proceedings would be over by the end of August. “Earlier there were a lot of agitations as most of the families living on the 128 hectare land identified for eviction were misled by some elements”, she said, adding that the new team had successfully created awareness among them that the expansion was inevitable.
“We ensured they got the best compensation package”, she added. “Now we have to move on to the Koyilandy bypass and Kozhikode bypass which is not a big deal”, she added. But in Malappuram there is no headway in the land survey due to stiff resistance from the public. Meanwhile, the anti-NH expansion action council formed at Malappuram District has decided to intensify the stir against the survey. The project, when executed would take over 357.98 hectares of land in the district and more than 5618 building will have to be destroyed of which a majority are houses.
Action council Malappuram district convener Abulaiz Thenjippalam told DC that the number of victims of the project was the highest in the district. “We had defeated survey attempts many times in the past”, he said, adding that this would be the fourth notification to be released by the Government for the conduct of the survey, which also would be prevented with strong public protest.
