NH-66: land acquisition to be completed in a month.

District Collector Biju Prabhakar has said that land acquisition for the second phase of the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila National Highway-66 widening project will be completed within a month.

At a meeting organised to assess the progress of land acquisition for various development projects in the district, Mr. Prabhakar said that Rs.100 crore had already been sanctioned for activities along the Pravachambalam-Vazhimukku stretch. In addition, a budgetary allocation of Rs.200 crore had been made for the project.

A special team had been constituted to complete the activities within a month.

Efforts were being taken to ensure that agreements for the Pravachambalam-Balaramapuram stretch, where consent letters from landowners have already been obtained, were finalised within two weeks.

Mr. Prabhakar said that the enumeration of trees on either side of the stretch had been completed. The Public Works Department had been entrusted with the auctioning of buildings and other properties.

The acquisition of land on the Balaramapuram-Vazhimukku stretch would commence after the State-level Purchase Committee approved the recommended rates for land under various categories.

The Collector advised the landowners of the stretch to prepare themselves for the process.

Officials of the Revenue and other departments participated in the meeting.

While the developed Karamana-Pravachambalam stretch was formally inaugurated on March 1, the work on the second reach from Pravachambalam to Vazhimukku has been remaining in limbo owing to various reasons.

Besides the delay in releasing funds, acquisition of land from Balaramapuram to Vazhimukku has remained a hard nut to crack for authorities. Moreover, the deliberations that were held by the district administration to convince the trading community on the need for an underpass at Balaramapuram failed to attain consensus.

THE HINDU