Already trailing,Kerala halts NH land acquisition

Faced with stiff opposition towards highway widening and BOT-based road development,an all-party meeting on Tuesday decided to temporarily discontinue land acquisition for the four-laning of the national highway in Kerala....

Faced with stiff opposition towards highway widening and BOT-based road development,an all-party meeting on Tuesday decided to temporarily discontinue land acquisition for the four-laning of the national highway in Kerala.

The meeting,chaired by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan,pleaded with the Centre that four-laning of NH in Kerala should be done at a width of 30 metres. This is contrary to the National Highway Authority of Indias (NHAI) stand highways have to be at least with 45 metres wide. NHAI chairman Brijeshwar Singh also attended.

Achuthanandan later said his government would request the Centre to drop the road development under the BOT scheme. This is a major deviation from the Left governments policy to seek private participation for infrastructure projects. If the state sticks on its demand,Kerala stands to loose road development of Rs 10,000 crore.

While all other states have gone miles ahead in highway development,Kerala has lagged behind due to the retrogressive stand of the successive governments towards land acquisition and private participation. Lakhs of houses and business establishments would have to be pulled down for the road widening.

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