District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla’s statements on Thursday regarding land acquisition and widening of the Edappally-Moothakunnam stretch of NH 66 to 45 metres are weak and contrary to facts, the National Highway Samyukta Samara Samiti has said.
Constructing an elevated highway costing approximately ₹2,200 crore over the existing 30-metre-wide space available for the NH will entail land acquisition only every 5 km to build ramps with access to service roads. This will do away with the need to acquire land all along the 25-km-long stretch where people had surrendered land over 20 years ago for a 30-m-wide NH, said K.V. Satyan of the samiti in a press release.
Moreover, the survey for land acquisition has begun though the State and the Centre have not readied a relief and rehabilitation package under the new Land Acquisition Act (of 2013). The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has mentioned only ₹585 crore as total compensation in its draft document for the entire Edappally-Kozhikode corridor. That it is only a token compensation is contrary to facts, he said.