The Hindu : Minister promises action on widening of NH 47

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 23, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Minister promises action on widening of NH 47

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI MAY 22. The NH 47 Action Council today received an assurance from the Union Minister of State for Railways and Parliamentary Affairs, O. Rajagopal, that he would look into the Action Council's demand.

The Action Council is pressing for an explanation from the civic authorities on the fate of the traffic conditions in Aluva town after the new bridge, parallel to the Marthanda Varma bridge, is opened.

The leaders of the Council have decided to hold a rally at the Railway station grounds on May 25 to chalk out a programme of action.

A press release from the Action Council today said that a memo was submitted to Mr. Rajagopal today and that he had said that the matter would be looked into.

Earlier, the Action Council leaders had described as `unsatisfactory' the explanation from the civic authorities that there was time till 2004 for increasing the width of the National Highway 47 (NH 47) between Thottakattukara and Paravur junctions.

The Action Council insisted that immediate action was required to help the town get over possible traffic bottlenecks once the new bridge is opened to the public by the end of this month.

The Aluva municipal authorities and local MLA, K. Mohammedali, had said early last week that the work on broadening the NH would be completed with the work on the `four-laning' of the highway between Aluva and Angamali.

Mr. Mohammedali had said that the National Highway Authority of India, which was overseeing the broadening work, had time till September 2004 for widening the road section that had come under sharp focus during the last one month.

The row erupted after it was discovered that even after the new bridge is commissioned, the traffic bottleneck on the National Highway might continue because sufficient land had not been acquired for broadening the road.

However, the authorities are confident that reorganising traffic and introducing some measures would temporarily solve the traffic problems.

A proposal for acquisition of more land for attaining the standard 25-metre width between the two junctions on the Northern side of the new bridge has already been submitted to the National Highway Authority of India.

The municipal authorities are confident that once the approval comes, the land acquisition will proceed fast and that the road would be broadened to standard specification.

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Minister promises action on widening of NH 47