Facing the heat over the inordinate delay in acquiring 56 cents at Thykoodam and at Thevara to develop the Chilavannoor Bund Road as a two-lane road, the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has decided to revisit the project and set in motion efforts to fast-track the acquisition process, sources in the agency said.
Once developed, the 3.50-km-long road would decongest Vyttila, the arterial SA Road and Pallimukku Jn. on MG Road.
“Eighty per cent of the road was readied over a decade ago. The land (and buildings) near Thykoodam, from where the road takes off, constitutes 10% of the balance land needed. Another 10% land ought to be acquired on the Thevara end, to straighten the road’s alignment and to prevent demolition of a few buildings there.” The landowners, who agreed to surrender their land after resisting the acquisition move for many years, have been given two options – either to accept compensation or to opt for mutual exchange of land. In this, the GCDA would allot them land which has a higher value, at Panampilly Nagar, they added.
Agitation planned
Expressing concern at the GCDA’s decades’-long ‘apathy’ in developing the road, A.X. Sebastian, the Vyttila mandalam president of the Congress said the entire road can be developed for approximately ₹5 crore. “The GCDA did nothing during the past years, although most landowners and those of church-owned property were willing to hand them over to the agency in order to realise the road. A memorandum in this regard was handed over to the new Chairman of GCDA, K. Chandran Pillai, on Monday.”
“The agency must also widen the road’s bell-mouth near the Thykoodam underpass, to enable smooth movement of vehicles. We will wait for a month more, following which a relay agitation will be organised if the road project is not set in motion,” he said.
Stakeholders have also apprised the GCDA of the possibility of hewing out a road parallel to the congested Pandit Karuppan Road, by readying a branch road leading eastward towards Thevara Ferry Road, from K.P. Vallon Road.