The Public Works Department (NH Wing) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should take necessary steps to address the problems faced by hundreds of people who had lost their lands three decades ago for the Thripunithura bypass project. EDRAAC-Thiruvankulam zone secretary MM Mohanan said it has not been realized so far.
They have been unable to rebuild or renovate their dilapidated houses as a result of their ‘indifference’ to the plight of the landlords. Nor can they bequeath their land/house to their children. MPs, MLAs and representatives of local bodies should actively help in redressal of grievances of landlords, most of whom are senior citizens.
The demand comes in the wake of NHAI reportedly not confirming that the plots that were acquired, or were frozen for acquisition, would be acquired as part of the Kundannur-Angamali NH bypass project .
Jamon Joy, a civil engineer from Thiruvankulam, said, “Very little has happened after I got the notice and 12 survey stones were laid for land acquisition in my two-acre plot for the Thripunithura bypass project in 2007.” “Out of the total 16 hectares required for the project, only 4.5 hectares were acquired in the entire 30 years, after which the notification of acquisition expired. The zamindars were hoping against the expectation that the rest of the land (the frozen land) would be acquired.
“The written assurance given a year ago that land would be acquired to build the highway under the Bharatmala project has not been followed so far. Subsequently, senior officials of NHAI visited the alignment in June, heard our complaints and assured us that the plots would be included in the alignment of Kochi-Theni NH or Kundannur-Angamaly NH. It all turned upside down in August, when he cited a distance of barely 500 meters between the two national highways, as a result of which we were left in limbo. Now they say that no highway alignment will be socially, economically and technically feasible through the route that was planned for Thripunithura bypass, although the Kundannur-Mattakuzhi alignment is a straight one,” Mr. Joy said.
With this, a section of landlords are hoping that the creation of a link road for the Kundanur-Angamaly NH will bring them some relief.
Yet George, another landlord in Mamala, said he was unable to sell his five cents of land now because survey stones were laid in the early 1990s. There his home is damaged beyond redemption.