KOZHIKODE: The Kozhikode district collector and the Mananchira Vellimadu-kunnu road development Action committee are at loggerheads over land acquisition process for the project.
The action committee, led by eminent historian M.G.S Narayanan, has come out in the open against collector N. Prashant accusing him of delaying land acquisition.
“The district administration is derailing the road development project. Though the Chief Minister had intervened in the issue and asked that the process be expedited, the district administration is playing spoilsport,” alleges M.G.S.
He says that the project was out of the Kozhikode city road improvement project.
“The narrow road has taken the lives of 90 and left more than 700 injured in a series of mishaps. The Chief Minister had recommended easing the traffic on the road by widening it, but the district collector replied that it would facilitate encroachment on government land. Officials also campaigned that widening of Malaparambu junction will solve the problem,” M.G.S pointed.
Mr Prashanth, however, said that the acquisition could only be done according to rules. “The new land acquisition rule should be adhered to,”he told Deccan Chronicle. “The public works department (PWD) has been asked to expedite the process,” he said.
But the action committee contends that neither the central act of 2014 nor the state rule of 2015 for land acquisition was binding on the project. “The social impact report as well as the decisions of the district level purchase committee and the state level empowered committee on the project have been favourable,” the action committee argues.
A reliable source in the revenue department told DC that real estate interests were visible in the project. “Many pieces of lands are without valid documents. Compensation cannot be given for such land holders in the name of acquisition,” an official said.
