Residents for rasta roko on land acquisition faults

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Mar 11, 2016: Kulashekara residents in the city have decried the alignment fixed by the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) for widening National Highway 169 (old NH 13) between Kulashekara Kaikamba and Moodabidri and demanded that the proposed road width be uniform — 30 metres — all along the road.

The NHAI has yielded to the pressure exerted by influential builders while fixing alignment so as to save certain mega-structures while taking away the lands of other house owners, alleged Mariamma Thomas, a resident of Kulashekara and former Mangaluru City Corporation councillor.

A meeting of the affected residents of the area was recently held and it was decided to submit a memorandum to the authorities concerned urging to rework the alignment without affecting dwellings that have been existing for years. If they do not respond positively, the residents would not cooperate for the proposed joint survey and would also stage a rasta rook in Kulashekara, Ms. Thomas said. The NHAI has proposed to widen the highway for 45 metres between Kulashekara Kaikamba and Moodabidri and 30 metres between Moodabidri and Karkala,  Thomas said there should be uniformity in the road width.

Mariamma Thomas said the rules required fixing of the new alignment from the centre of the existing road up to a width of 22.5 metre or 15 metre on either side of the road for 45 metre or 30 metre wide road respectively. However, the NHAI has not fixed the alignment in this manner and has marked properties from the edge of the existing road in many cases, she alleged.

Around Kulashekara Chowki, houses of nearly 50 people are under the threat of acquisition as the NHAI has marked the alignment from the left edge of the existing road,  Mariamma said and alleged it was done to save a mega-structure on the right-hand side of the road. Similar discrepancies are visible all along the stretch up to Moodabidri, she said.

Notification  : Mangaluru Assistant Commissioner Ahsok, who is the land acquisition officer for the project, said the alignment is fixed by the NHAI and the State government is only the acquisition authority. Properties are identified based on the NHAI’s proposal and a draft acquisition notification is prepared. He said that he has forwarded representations given by the residents as well as J.R. Lobo, MLA, to the NHAI.