The plight of the National Highway 66 in various stretches in Kerala has triggered a political storm, with the Opposition Congress-led UDF slamming the ruling CPI(M) which showcases the highway development as a “major feat” of the party-led LDF government over the last nine years of its rule.
The Kerala leg of the NH-66 being built for several years is in the final stages of construction now. It is being expanded into a six-lane highway running from the state’s northern parts to its southern border simultaneously, with a new deadline set for its completion before the Assembly elections slated for early 2026.
However, several portions of the NH-66 have developed cracks or caved in during the ongoing pre-monsoon spell, bringing to light some alleged defects in its construction. Cracks have developed mainly along the stretches in Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Thrissur districts. On May 19, a stretch of 200 metres in Malappuram, which was built along a paddy field, had collapsed.
The construction of NH-66 in Kerala has been listed on top of the LDF government’s progress report which marked its nine years at the helm earlier this week. Addressing a rally in Thrissur on May 14 to celebrate his second term’s fourth anniversary, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the widening of the highway was one of the “impossible tasks” that his government “turned into reality”.
Kerala Public Works Minister Muhammed Riyas said the state government has been working closely with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, which is steering the multi-state 1,600-km NH-66 project. The state government, Riyas said, has been ensuring local-level review meetings and frequent field visits at various stretches of the under-construction highway.
The Kerala government has also highlighted its contributions to the project through land acquisitions. Kerala has borne 25% of the land acquisition cost for the project, which is said to be around Rs 5,600 crore, with the remaining funds coming from the Centre. Pointing to this figure, the Vijayan government has been taking credit for the project. However, several mishaps, such as the May 19 incident in Malappuram, have now put the CPI(M) on the back foot over it.
On Thursday, while pointing to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Centre, Vijayan appeared to deflect the blame of the alleged construction defects. “The construction of the national highway is done by the NHAI. Neither the state government nor Public Works Department has any role in it. But certain quarters have been trying to depict the present issues as a fault of the state government. That will not work. Their (the Opposition Congress-led UDF) issue is why we, the LDF, took up the project that they had abandoned,” the CM said at a public rally in Kollam.
The Congress has, however, continued to blame the LDF government over the problems besetting the construction of NH-66. Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly, V D Satheesan, on Friday said, “The state government has no coordination with the NHAI in the construction. The state’s role was taking credit for the work and promotional reels. The CM now admits the state had no role in the national highway work. Cracks had developed at least in 50-odd locations. Let the PWD minister take reels from all such spots for his promotion. The real crack has developed on the government claim on its fourth anniversary,” Satheesan said.
The national highway development has been a vexed issue in Kerala under the regimes of both the LDF and the UDF for the last two decades.
As compared to other states, Kerala has lagged behind on highway development due to the alleged “retrogressive” stand of the successive governments towards issues like land acquisition and private participation.
Under LDF CM V S Achuthanandan, the state government had been opposed to the national highway development under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. The Achuthanandan government had even asked the Centre to drop the BOT model for NH-66 and wanted to reduce its width to 30 metres.
When the UDF government led by Congress leader Oommen Chandy came to power in 2011, the impasse had continued over the NH-66 project as the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was unwilling to build a 30-metre wide highway, as decided by an all-party meeting in the state following widespread protests over land acquisition.
The high cost of land acquisition in urban Kerala has also been another concern, with many people unwilling to yield their land at the rate fixed by the government. In 2013, the UPA government at the Centre introduced the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, and brought the national highway development under its ambit. After the LDF returned to power in Kerala in 2016, the state was ready to bear 25% of the cost of land acquisition, which ensured better prices for the land owners.
