THRISSUR: Public anger is brewing over the National Highway Authority of India and its contractor Thrissur Expressway Ltd not dismantling a single room building at Mulayam Junction in Mannuthy on the acquired land for six-lane tollway. While hundreds of people lost their house for the NH widening works moved elsewhere, this particular building is used as an office of a travel agency, and the space around the building a pay-and-park lot for buses and other vehicles.
Nerkazhcha, an organisation of RTI activists here, had filed an application with the NHAI seeking details and the Authority had replied that the acquired land had been handed over to the concessionaire. “The NHAI and contractor were keen on evicting others from Mannuthy in Thrissur to Vadakkanchery in Palakkad. On both the sides, several hundreds of residents handed over their land after demolishing their houses themselves in the last two years, but this particular building and the parking lot are still functioning,” RTI activist P. B. Satheesh alleged.
"There's a secret agreement between the contractor and the person who owns the building. Otherwise, its place should have been cleared two years before." The alleged unauthorised office and parking lot are near the proposed underpass. Project manager Satish Chandra Reddy said he had to check with the NHAI over the matter and if there were no dispute over the building and the parking space, it would be dismantled at the earliest. However, Mr Satheesh said that NHAI had made it clear in its RTI reply that no permission was given to anyone to use the area to run such business.
