Kerala to open Kuthiran tunnel in August, says Tourism and PWD minister Riyas

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government plans to open Kuthiran tunnel in Valanchery Mannuthi national highway in August, informed Kerala Minister for Tourism and Public Works Department (PWD) P A Muhammad Riyas in the state assembly on Monday.

"Government plans to open one tunnel of the Kuthiran in Valanchery Mannuthi national highway by 1st of August or in the month of August," Riyas said in the assembly.

"The issue of Kuthiran tunnel project has become a social problem now. It comes under the national highway authority of India. Kerala government had taken all efforts to complete the project in time. After the LDF government came into power, it was trying to open at least a single tunnel for the people," he further added.

"Ministers of concerned districts have worked together as a team to complete the work. The Chief Minister also called a meeting and decided to open one tunnel in August. If gets approval on the safety measures from national highway authority, it can be opened for the people in the month of August", said the minister while replying to the questions in the assembly.

Minister also said that a mobile app called "PWD 4U" is also in a trial run from June 7. People can register their complaints through the app. Once the complaint is registered, a message will be sent to concerned sub-division offices, and concerned assistant executive engineers will attend to the complaint.

After rectifying the complaint, the concerned chief executive engineer will inform the complainant about it through PWD 4 u app, said the minister.