THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s assurance could not save the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila stretch. The work is still stuck in the name of conflicts over the alignment of the 12-km Karamana-Vazhimukku stretch. The monitoring committee, which was assigned to look into the issues of alignment, has not met to discuss the issue.Headed by PWD Minister Ebrahim Kunju, the monitoring committee consists of MLAs of Nemom, Kovalam, Kattakada, Neyyattinkara and Parassala. The committee members were given the CD of the alignment. So far, no decision has been taken on the issue.The government had decided to go ahead with the 30.2-metre widening in an all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on October 3. Fair compensation was announced to remove the hurdles of land acquisition. The design for junction improvement too was asked to be completed soon. But still, there is no progress in the works.The NH Action Council had recently met the Chief Engineer in charge of works. They are also planning to meet the PWD Minister to apprise him of the need to complete the works in a speedy manner.The designs for the junction improvement is getting ready. Land acquisition will begin after sorting out the issues relating to the alignment.After the inauguration of road-widening works in last November by the then Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, the works were stalled owing to protest from local traders. After Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s intervention, survey of a 12-km stretch recently got completed. The proposal was to develop the 30-km NH connecting Karamana to Kaliyikkavila into a four-lane road with a width of 30.2 m. Of the total 30 km, the first phase will cover almost 12 km from Karamana to Vazhimukku.KOVALAM- KALIYIKAVILA UPGRADATIONThe demand for the Kovalam-Kaliyikavila bypass is getting more support. The Kovalam-Kaliyikavila bypass action council has demanded that the government should expedite the project. The Kazhakkoottam-Kovalam stretch was completed 10 years ago. The action council is demanding immediate completion of the remaining 20.5 km connecting Kovalam to Kaliyikkavila.“The Kovalam-Kaliyikkavila stretch will ease the traffic congestion along the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila road. The work has been stalled for the past 44 years. This shows the flaws in government’s development policy,” said V Sudhakaran, action council president.
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