Vayalkilikal to submit alternatives for bypass

Kannur: Vayalkilikal, the action council resisting the Keezhattoor bypass project, will decide the future course of action on Monday. The delegation, including action council leader Suresh Keezhattoor, that met Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi will return on that day.

The meeting of the erstwhile CPM activists agitating for the relocation of the national highway bypass at Keezhattoor with the union minister had invited sharp criticism from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan  who termed it an assault on federalism.

Mr Baiju Keezhattoor of Vayalkilikal told DC that further decision will be taken after the discussions within the group. “We have many suggestions which will help save the 4.5-km paddy stretch in Talipa-ramba municipality”, he said. Both Talipar-amba municipality and Pattuvam panchayat source water from Keezhattoor well which would dry up once the bypass destroys the paddyfield.   “We have many alternatives which will not touch the paddyfield or destroy even a single house,” he added.

“The union ministry decision was a shocker to the CPM-led government as they had been neglecting us and bypas-sing us in executing the decisions arbitrarily,” Mr Baiju Keezhattoor said. Earlier, the state government and CPM leaders claimed that they had nothing to do with the project as everything was decided by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). “Now the same leaders lament that the union government has overlooked the rights of the state by holding discussions with Vayalkilikal, which exposes the true colours of CPM leadership,” he pointed out.

The Vayalkilikal wou-ld also seek legal remedy to save the paddy field, he said.