Land-owners yet to get compensation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The next phase of the Kovalam-Kalayikkavila bypass should be started by handing over compensation to land-owners who have been waiting for it for the past 42 years, Kovalam MLA Jameela Prakasam said on Tuesday. She was inaugurating a meeting of land-owners organised by the Kovalam-Kalayikkavila Bypass Action Council. It was in 1969 that the land required for the Kazhakkoottam-Kalayikkavila Bypass, a part of the NH 47, was measured and demarcated. In effect, land-owners lost the right to their property from that moment. Land transactions ended and so did farming. Houses on this land are in a dilapidated condition owing to lack of maintenance. But to this day, not one land-owner from Kottukal to Kalayikkavila has received compensation for the land, Prakasam said. The Tahsildar received documents from families on the Nettathanni-Vengapotta stretch in 2007. These families too have not received any compensation. The necessary land has already been demarcated for constructing a four-lane road connecting Kazhakkoottam and Kalayikkavila. However, 12 years ago, only a two-lane road was built. This has resulted in traffic snarls. It is imperative that the road be expanded into a four-lane one, Jameela Prakasam said. The bypass from Kovalam to Kalayikkavila should be constructed in a single phase, which will reduce congestion on the Karamana-Kalayikkavila stretch, she said. Action council chairman V Sudhakaran presided over the meeting.