Despite serious concerns flagged by SEAC, Kerala goes ahead with Wayanad tunnel project

Thiruvananthapuram: Despite the recent devastating landslide that claimed at least 300 lives and the serious concerns flagged by the  State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), the Kerala government is going ahead with the twin tunnel project between Wayanad and Kozhikode, which is close to the recent landslide hit region.

Tenders for the 8.7 kilometre tunnel road project from Meppadi in Wayanad to Anakkampoyil in Kozhikode were opened the other day and Bhopal based Dilip Buildcon was found to have submitted the lowest bid for Rs. 1,341 crore.

Linto Joseph, CPM MLA of Thiruvambady from Kozhikode, from where the project begins, announced this in a social media post and expressed hope that the construction will begin soon.

However, environmental clearance for the project is still pending and the SEAC has raised a series of concerns, including the frequent landslides in the region and proximity to high and moderate landslide prone zones.

"The project area is known for frequent landslides, especially during monsoon. The stability analysis shows that chances of failure exist in the project areas. Puthumala village is approximately 0.85 km away from the proposed tunnel road, where a massive landslide occurred in 2019," says the minutes of the SEAC meeting held on June 11.

SEAC also points out that environmental sensitivity of the site is high and the project area falls in the Ecologically Sensitive Area. SEAC had also sought 28 additional documents for reviewing the application for environmental clearance.

The ruling party MLA told DH that the government was in the process of submitting the additional documents sought and a final clearance was expected soon.

After the July 30 landslide, environmentalists had raised serious concerns over the proposed tunnel road, which is being projected as a solution for the traffic congestion on the Thamarasserry ghat road. Even then Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan justified that tunnel roads were not reported to have led to calamities anywhere.

Sources also point out that the undue haste of the government over the project is evident from the fact that the tendering process was being finalised even before obtaining environmental clearance.

Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi (Wayanad nature protection forum) president N Badusha said that strong resistance to the project from the local people aggravated after the recent landslide.

Hence any further moves will face strong resistance. He also said that with one-fourth the cost of the proposed tunnel project the existing ghat roads of Wayanad could be further developed to ease the traffic congestion.