Karamana highway gains speed

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After recovering from short delays caused by the lack of raw materials, the work on the 5.9- km Nermankara - Pravachambalam stretch of Karamana-Kaliyikkavil highway has gained speed to meet the 18-month deadline that ends in October.

Due to the shutting down of the quarries at Mookunnimala, the raw materials are now being channelled from across Pathanamthitta.

As on Thursday, rubble base and single layer tarring of the highway was completed on almost the entire stretch till  Pappanamcode.

Land has been acquired and levelling work is progressing on Karakkamandapom- Vellayani stretch.

The demolition work  has been completed and side wall reinforcements and service lanes on either side are being constructed from Vellayani to Pravachambalam. The first leg of the first phase of highway development ends at Pravachambalam.  

“Unfortunately,  the Kerala Water Authority pipelines and assets couldn’t be removed from under the road as it will require more eviction. So roads may have to be dug up in future,” said an official.

Around half a dozen buildings, including the 150-year-old Sir Sayyad Ahmad Shaan dargah, are  yet to be razed down between Pappanamcode and Nemom.

“All the building owners barring that of dargah have  taken the government’s money under the eviction scheme and then sought a stay against eviction. Hence, their arguments are unlikely to stand in the court and we hope to raze them down. A committee under the district collector is yet to identify where the dargah can be relocated. The devotees here are ready to settle with some land on the KSRTC works depot premises or BSNL plot,” the senior officials said.

Most of the work of underpass construction to connect Nemom Government UP School and Victory Higher Secondary School has been completed blocking one half of the road.

The police have deployed around 50 staffers to manage peak-time traffic on the stretch where severe snarls are caused due to the brisk work.