Balaramapuram-Vazhimukku road widening hits a dead end

Thiruvananthapuram: Uncertainty looms over the development of a 1.5-km stretch from Balaramapuram to Vazhimukku as part of the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila Road development project. The state govt is yet to take a decision to provide sufficient funds to dispense compensation to the landowners who conceded their properties and buildings.

Though the compensation disbursal started for the 47 landowners from Vazhimukku towards Balaramapuram, the revenue authorities could not pay the compensation to all due to the prevailing crisis.

Sources close to the revenue wing of the district administration said that the govt had dispensed approximately Rs 40 crore so far. The total fund for the land acquisition is Rs 97 crore. "We are waiting for the money as the fund needs approval from the state treasury. We cannot set a timeframe now," a senior revenue official told TOI.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), the executing agency of the project, had written to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) to urgently release Rs 200 crore more for compensation to the landowners and the tenants as part of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. However, the KIIFB is yet to release the fund.

The land acquisition for the widening of the 1.5-km-long stretch at Balaramapuram on the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila interstate highway from Kodinada to Vazhimukku has been delayed for the past several months. Earlier, the revenue wing stated that the compensation disbursal would be completed by the end of Feb and the construction work could be started in April. However, nothing has turned positive.

Though the state govt had earlier proposed an underpass at Balaramapuram Junction, it was later dropped owing to the stiff opposition from the traders. Now, the road will be widened into four lanes with 30.2 metres of width.