₹50 crore sanctioned for land acquisition for Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road widening

The State government has sanctioned ₹50 crore for the Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road development project in Kozhikode city. This is the second instalment of the ₹100 crore allotted just before the parliamentary polls in 2019.

A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, in a press release stated that the amount would be sufficient to acquire land of those who had expressed their consent for acquisition.

The project, being implemented by the Kerala Road Fund Board, was part of the Kozhikode City Road Development project, but could not be taken forward due to land acquisition issues. The total length of the road is 8.4 km and is expected to be 24-metres wide when the widening is completed. The government has to acquire land from 480 people for the project.

The MLA said that the pending ₹134.5 crore would be released after proceedings start for acquisition of land from non-willing landowners under the Kerala Land Acquisition Act.

A road action council had been formed under the leadership of historian M.G.S. Narayanan a few years ago to pressurise the government to expedite the road widening work. Several protests and marches were conducted under the aegis of the committee demanding the release of funds and to garner public support for the project.