KOZHIKODE: In the picturesque village of Anakkampoyil in Kozhikode, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday inaugurated the construction of the Wayanad tunnel road project, a long-awaited infrastructure initiative poised to revolutionise connectivity between Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.
It was a day history would remember, when a decades-old dream began to take solid form. The ceremony, held at the St Mary’s UP School ground, marks the beginning of a project set to become the country’s largest twin-tunnel road and a vital alternative to the congested Thamarassery Ghat Road.
A crowd, vibrant and diverse, had gathered at the venue. Among the onlookers was 70-year-old Thomas, a spice farmer from Kalladi in Wayanad. For him, the Thamarassery Ghat Road has been a story of struggle — of hours-long traffic jams and of harrowing journeys during medical emergencies.
There were farmers who spent lifetimes navigating treacherous mountain passes, young entrepreneurs whose ambitions were tethered to the whims of the winding Thamarassery ‘churam’, and families who simply longed for a safer, quicker connection to their relatives.
The chief minister spoke of the tunnel road not as mere asphalt and concrete but as a lifeline.
“This is more than a tunnel, it is a gateway,” Pinarayi declared, his voice resonating with conviction.
“A gateway to progress, to prosperity, and to a safer future.”
He then announced the specifics of the dream project.
“This monumental project is being realised with an investment of `913 crore, fully funded through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), ensuring that progress will be swift and unhindered,” Pinarayi said. The chief minister delivered a scathing critique of the Union government, alleging a deliberate campaign of financial strangulation against the state.
“The state government has gone through a painful period when the Centre denied the state’s rightful financial share,” he said.
He pointed to a situation where the state was allegedly denied Rs 12,000 crore, arguing that loans taken through KIIFB cannot be considered as state loans.
Pinarayi also accused the Centre of attempting to sabotage development projects, alleging that the progress in Kerala is causing frustration among certain groups.
The chief minister spelt out a clear timeline for the tunnel road project.
“We are committed to completing it within 60 months,” he said.
He emphasised that the development will not come at the cost of environment.
“We are not just cutting through rock, we are carving a path that will unite our people while protecting the delicate beauty of our land,” the chief minister said.
This pledge to harmonise development with nature was a fresh highlight woven into the project’s very blueprint, he said.
Pinarayi elaborated on the cutting-edge Austrian engineering being employed. Unlike conventional methods that scar the mountainside, this project will utilise a state-of-the-art tunnel boring machine (TBM), a colossal mechanical earthworm that chews through the granite heart of Vellarimala, leaving the forest sanctuary above almost untouched.
The excavated rock will not be discarded but repurposed, becoming the very foundation for local infrastructure projects, he explained.
Earlier, the CM unveiled the foundation stone for the project. It was a gentle start to a monumental task, a quiet promise of the 8.73 kilometres to come.
The journey from Anakkampoyil to Kalladi — a gruelling 45-kilometre, 90-minute ordeal — will become a mere 20-minute drive in a few years’ time.
Thamarassery Bishop praises Pinarayi’s determination
At the inauguration ceremony for the Wayanad tunnel’s construction, Bishop Remigius Inchananiyil of the Thamarassery Archdiocese acknowledged the many obstacles — environmental concerns, technical studies, and bureaucratic delays — that had plagued the project. He praised Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s determination, saying that without a leader who is resolute in his vision, the tunnel would have remained a pipe dream. The bishop’s speech highlighted a moment of convergence. Earlier, the Thamarassery Archdiocese had publicly, and strongly, criticised the state government on a different pressing issue — the rising human-wildlife conflicts. At Anakkampoyil on Sunday, the bishop also spoke with gratitude of the contributions of the late leaders like K M Mani and Oommen Chandy, acknowledging that the project’s long journey had been a collective effort spanning different political eras.