THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has agreed to increase the width of the vehicular underpass at Kumarichantha as part of the NH 66 development activities, informed Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor.
Noting in an X post that the decision came after his discussion on the issue with the NHAI chairman Santhosh Kumar Yadav, he wrote that the community leaders of the locality too have agreed to the NHAI decision. Requesting the people to call off their agitation and allow the work to proceed smoothly, he also thanked the NHAI chairman in the post.
With this, the underpass will be expanded to three spans, each 30m in width, which is expected to solve the practical issues of the public. Earlier, the protestors had raised their concerns that, being one of the busiest junctions in the stretch, Kumarichantha requires a better plan to ease the traffic congestion here.
The initial plan by the authority was to have one span of 20m for the underpass, which was met with severe protests by the residents. The issue was taken up by Tharoor, following which a decision was taken to increase the number of spans to three, each measuring 20m.
However, local residents reiterated that this provision too was inadequate and intensified their protests, following which came Tharoor’s latest intervention.