NHAI should take over land where soil nailing was done, says Riyas

Minister for Public Works P.A. Mohamed Riyas has demanded that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) take over the land where soil nailing, a construction technique used to stabilise slopes and excavations by reinforcing the soil with steel or fibreglass elements, was done as part of the widening of National Highway 66.

He was attending the District Development Committee meeting here on Saturday. The Minister said that in Kozhikode, the NHAI should acquire the land at Kunniyoramala in Koyilandy, where residents had been living in fear after the road construction began. There are 22 families in the area, who have complained about earth caving in and other issues.

Mr. Riyas said that when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari recently, the problems faced by Kunniyoramala residents and waterlogging on the national highway were brought to his attention. The Public Works department had officially sent a communication to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as well.

District Collector Snehil Kumar Singh said the district administration was willing to acquire the land once the NHAI took steps for the purpose. He said complaints from local residents in connection with road widening were being addressed in time. He also directed NHAI officials to open the carriageways on the national highways whose construction had been completed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Riyas said that the work on the national highway bypass was in its last phase. The district administration had intervened to sort out a few issues raised at Nellikode in the city. The government is attempting to address some other issues that had cropped up on the Vengalam-Azhiyur stretch. Mr. Riyas directed officials to install signboards on the national highway. K.P. Kunhammed Kutty and K.K. Rema, MLAs, raised various issues in their constituencies.