THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP state president K Surendran is sabotaging the development works in Kerala, Public Works Minister P A Mohamed Riyas told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
He was replying to Surendran’s allegation that the state has no role in the development of the National Highways in Kerala and that the PWD minister is simply walking on the road with a ‘hard hat on his head’. “Surendran constantly insults the state government regarding the development of National Highways in Kerala.
We are living at a time when all the departments should come together and realise the necessity of completing the development of the NH. In 2014, when the UDF was in power, the development of the NH 66 was abandoned. The National Highways Authority of India had written to the state government that the project would not go ahead.
However, the scheme was revived in 2016 when the LDF came to power,” the minister said. He also said the land acquisition is the biggest challenge in highway development.
“The chief minister assured the Centre that the state government would do the land acquisition procedures and provide 25% of the cost of the project. On September 4, 2018, the state president of the BJP wrote to the Union minister asking him not to allow the state to acquire land for the project. This shows BJP’s role in the development of the NH in Kerala,” Riyas said.