Land acquisition for constructing a bridge across the Pampa connecting Kavalam and Thattassery in Kuttanad has begun.
Officials said here on Friday that a report submitted by a private agency after conducting a social impact assessment had been approved. As much as 185 cents of land in the possession of 46 landowners in 68 survey numbers will have to be acquired for the project.
Steps for realising the project has resumed after an inordinate delay.
Sandhya Ramesh, president, Kavalam grama panchayat, said the bridge would bring an end to the travel woes in the region. The bridge will connect the Alappuzha-Changanassery (AC) Road and Main Central (MC) road. It will help reduce the distance between Alappuzha and Kottayam by 9 km and is expected to open doors of development to the remote areas of Kuttanad.
₹51.5-cr. estimate
In 2016, the State government allocated ₹30 crore for the construction of the bridge and approach road. The estimate was later revised to ₹51.5 crore following changes made in the design. The original plan was to acquire the land through direct negotiated purchase. However, some landowners demanded a change in the alignment. As the alignment was fixed by the Inland Waterways Authority, officials rejected their demand.
Under LARR Act
Later, the Revenue Department ended the move to acquire land through negotiated purchase. Following this, in November 2018 the department announced that the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act would be invoked to acquire land for the construction of the bridge and the landowners were given time till December 1, 2018 to hand over consent letters.
However, the authorities failed to take follow-up action. It was after residents petitioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan that the project gained momentum recently.
