THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The deadlock over the widening of the National Highway from Karamana to Kaliyikkavila has been resolved after the government gave an assurance on the compensation package. In an all-party meeting attended by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, PWD Minister V K Ebrahim Kunju, other officials, people’s representatives and action council members, the government has promised to widen the stretch to 30.2 metres. Action council president Mohan Kumar said: “We decided to withdraw the strike after meeting the CM and other officials. The Chief Minister had said that people would be evicted from the proposed site only after giving compensation. The compensation amount will be on par with the market value. He also promised to complete the project in a time-bound manner.” The action council had earlier planned a road blockade next week.The government has constituted a monitoring committee to look into the NH-widening works. PWD Minister will head this committee. Based on the proposal of the action council, the government has decided to construct bus bays only on government-owned land. According to sources, the design for junction improvement needs to be approved by the government. After that, land acquisition proceedings will begin. After the inauguration of the road-widening works in last November by the then Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, the works were stalled due to protest from local traders. A group of traders wanted to limit the widening to 22 metres. The proposal was to develop the 30-km NH connecting Karamana to Kaliyikkavila as 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. The widening of the busy bottleneck connecting Kerala and Tamil Nadu is crucial for the city.
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