Action council seeks alignment details of Kochi-Theni NH

Land acquired for Thripunithura bypass integrated with highway project

The Thripunithura Bypass Action Council has demanded that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) publish details of the revised alignment of Kochi-Theni NH 85 that would be developed as a four-lane corridor. Landowners who had surrendered land for the Thripunithura bypass and those whose properties were frozen for the bypass project over three decades ago are eager to know the revised alignment, especially on the Mattakuzhi-Mamala-Thiruvankulam stretch, and allied details such as the progress of survey, land acquisition notification and price negotiation, said Alias A.V., president of the action council, in a letter addressed to the NHAI’s Kochi office. The NHAI says the DPR is not ready, although the Centre and the State government have earmarked funds for land acquisition. The NHAI must also specify the location in Puthencruz where the Kochi-Theni highway would cross the Kundannoor-Angamaly NH bypass that the agency has proposed. It must also lay survey stones on the NH’s alignment through the land that had been frozen for the Thripunithura bypass on the Nettoor/Kundannoor-Mattakuzhi stretch, said K.M. Baby, a landowner on the stretch.