Ray of hope for landowners as NHAI mulls two-lane corridor along Thripunithura bypass alignment

Hope for Thripunithura bypass project to become reality as PWD insists NHAI or MoRTH develop it as two-lane corridor.

Over 200 landowners along the alignment of the yet-to-be-realised Thripunithura bypass, work on which began three decades ago, are hopeful of the project becoming a reality belatedly, thanks to the Public Works department (PWD) insisting that either the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) must develop it as two-lane, stand-alone corridor.

For this, the PWD has cited how the onus was on MoRTH since it had initiated the bypass project (following which PWD [NH wing] began the land acquisition process). The revised cost estimate for land acquisition was returned unapproved by the Ministry citing ‘exorbitant increase’ from the sanctioned estimate. This resulted in only 4.40 hectares of the total 16 hectares being acquired in phase-one of the Thripunithura bypass project, covering a 3.75-km stretch in the Mattakuzhi-Thiruvankulam railway line corridor.

This incomplete land acquisition left landowners, especially those whose land had been marked for acquisition, in distress. They were unable to build structures on their land, nor were they able to sell them, during the past 30 years.

Many people were not compensated, although their land was frozen to be acquired at a later stage. Left with no other option despite the agonising wait, landowners repeatedly knocked at the doors of State and Central governments.

It was in this situation that the NHAI — which is slated to execute the Kundannoor-Angamaly NH 66 and Kochi-Theni NH 85 greenfield corridors through the vicinity of the Thripunithura bypass alignment — said a two-lane corridor could be built along the (3.75 km) phase-one alignment of the bypass, once its headquarters approved the proposal, informed sources said.

Earlier this year, Benny Behanan and Thomas Chazhikadan, MPs, had met NHAI Chairman Santosh Yadav and demanded a ‘spur road’ connecting the Kochi-Theni greenfield NH 85 corridor with land that had been acquired by the PWD (NH wing) for the long-overdue Thripunithura bypass. The spur road would help establish direct connectivity from the proposed greenfield corridor to Thripunithura town. Following the meeting, Mr. Yadav had said the NHAI could look into the demand if land was made available, and that he would depute officials with the task of studying the project and submitting a report.

The NHAI had in 2021 readied a tentative alignment for the Kochi-Theni greenfield NH corridor by including areas that had been acquired for the Thripunithura bypass. This was after the PWD (NH Wing), which readied the alignment for the bypass, requested the NHAI that the changed alignment of the Kochi-Munnar NH corridor be directed through the Thripunithura bypass since there would be no need to acquire land afresh in its 3.75-km phase-one alignment.