4 days ago
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After a astir year-long standstill, roadworthy widening connected the 14.5-km Neriamangalam-Valara-Adimaly agelong of the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway is expected to resume shortly. On Monday, an authoritative squad led by Land Revenue Commissioner K. Jeevan Babu inspected the area.
The inspection follows a directive from Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan to the Chief Secretary, ordering contiguous steps to restart construction. Last week, Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose met with Mr. Satheesan to taxable a memorandum demanding urgent enactment connected the stretch. In addition, recently elected Idukki MLAs—F. Raja (Devikulam), Roy K. Paulose (Idukki), and Senapathy Venu (Udumbanchola)—had submitted letters to the Chief Minister echoing the demand.
District Collector Dineshan Cheruvatt, Devikulam Subcollector V.M. Arya, and Mr. Raja besides joined the Land Revenue Commissioner during the tract visit.
Rasak Chooravelil, wide convenor of the National Highway Protection Council, expressed optimism astir the project’s revival. “The roadworthy widening works were halted past year, but we present expect the caller UDF authorities to instrumentality the contented earnestly and instrumentality steps to resume construction,” Mr. Chooravelil said.
“The constrictive roadworthy poses a terrible menace to passengers and vehicles alike. Thousands of vehicles walk done this agelong each day, arsenic it is the main roadworthy connecting to the world-famous tourism destination of Munnar,” helium added.
Work connected the agelong has been stalled since July 2025, pursuing a Kerala High Court bid restricting roadworthy widening and histrion felling. The enactment was issued successful effect to a petition filed by Idukki-based environmentalist M.N. Jayachandran.
The highway’s delayed operation was a large run contented during some the section assemblage and Assembly polls successful Idukki. The National Highway Protection Council had antecedently staged galore protests demanding the resumption of work.
