Notification for land acquisition issued

Thiruvananthapuram: A year after the previously-issued notification for land acquisition lapsed, the national highway authority of India (NHAI) has issued another gazette notification for the acquisition of land in the Kadambattukonam–Kazhakkoottam stretch for the Cherthala–Thiruvananthapuram NH stretch widening project.
The 3 (A) notification was issued to announce the plan to acquire around 93 hectares. NHAI has issued 3 (A) notification for the 29-km Kazhakkoottam-Kadambattukonam stretch in the last week of January. Sources in NHAI said that they are expecting to complete the process for 3 (D) notification, which is publication of survey numbers and other details of the land after conducting a detailed survey. “Though the 3 (A) notification announces need to acquire 93 hectares, the actual area will be less after survey,” said sources.
NHAI has set a July target for issuing 3 (D) notification. It is also planning to float tender for the construction after publishing 3 (D) notification.
Already, land acquisition has made progress in remaining stretches in districts such as Alappuzha and Kollam. In Kollam, the land acquisition has made significant progress that NHAI is gearing up to publish 3 (D) notification. In Alappuzha, NHAI has completed 3 (A) proceedings.
If 3 (D) notification is not issued within one year after publishing 3 (A), the first notification will not have validity. This has happened to the Kazhakkoottam-Kadambattukonam stretch after ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) removed national highway projects in the state from ‘priority I list’ last year.
Sources in district administration said that though they had uploaded details in NHAI’s online site for publication of 3 (D) notification, it lapsed due to the exclusion of the project from the priority I list. The issue was resolved after the intervention of state government, which agreed to fund 25% of the land acquisition cost for widening of the national highway stretch.
As per the agreement with MoRTH, the 526-km national highway stretch from Thalappady to Kazhakkoottam will be widened in 45 metres.
It will be divided into 13 stretches, including the 29-km Kazhakkoottam–Kadambattukonam stretch. The remaining stretches are 39-km Thalapady–Chengala stretch, 37-km Chengala-Neeleshwaram ROB, 40-km Perole–Thalipparamba stretch, 36-km Thalipparamba–Muzhappilangadu stretch, 39-km Azhiyur–Vengalam stretch, 53-km Ramanattukara–Kuttuppuram stretch, 24-km Kuttippuram–Kappirikkad stretch, 89-km Kappirikkadu–Edappally stretch, 38-km Thuravoor–Paravoor stretch, 38-km Paravoor–Kottankulangara stretch, 32-km Kottankulangara–Kollam bypass stretch and 32-km Kollam bypass–Kadambattukonam stretch.