Alappuzha bypass thrown open to public amid political slug fest

Alappuzha: Half a century after it was envisaged, the 6.8-kilometre two-lane Alappuzha bypass was thrown open for traffic on Thursday amid a slugfest between political parties.

The Left Democratic Front government in Kerala and the NDA government at the centre took claim for the completion of the project, while the opposition Congress protested over the exclusion of former union minister KC Venugopal from the invitees' list.

Venugopal was the previous Alappuzha lawmaker. The constituency is now represented by CPM's lone Lok Sabha MP from Kerala A M Arif.

State Public Works Minister G Sudhakaran took potshots at the Congress saying the list of invitees of the state government had included Venugopal but the final list was decided by the Centre.

Referring to the previous UPA Government, Sudhakaran alleged that despite the Congress being in power in Kerala and at the Centre at the same time, nothing much happened on the Alappuzha bypass project.  "You should be able to install flex boards in the hearts of the people and not the roads, " the minister said while taking a dig at the Congress.

While Sudhakaran went hammer and tongs at the Congress, the chief minister got upset with his Cabinet colleague for prolonging his speech. 

Meanwhile, a section of Congress workers took out a march to the venue of the inaugural function to protest against the authorities for not inviting KC Venugopal MP. Minister Sudhakaran didn’t spare even Venugopal.

"Venugopal may come or may not come. There is no need to create unwarranted controversies. It was the Centre which recommended the names of VIPs for the function. Venugopal's name was included in the list prepared by the state government," he clarified.

The march was taken out by Congress workers to protest the exclusion of Venugopal resulted in minor clashes with police.

Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the bypass, passing through the western side of NH66, via video conferencing, in a function attended by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan.

The bypass, which links Komadi to Kalarcode, has an elevated highway -- Kerala's longest -- which spans 4.8 kilometres parallel to the beach. This includes a 3.2-kilometre flyover.

The project cost Rs 348 crore of which Rs 174 crore each was borne by the State government and the union government. Apart from this amount, the state government also spent Rs 25 crore for developing the Kalarcode and Kommadi junctions.

The first phase of the project was completed in the 1980s, but work on the bypass then go stuck due to a host of reasons including permission from Railways.