One month ago, in a press release, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that there has been a persistent request for an alternative route between Kozhikode and Wayanad due to frequent disruptions in the current Thamarassery Pass road caused by natural disasters and traffic congestion. The proposed solution is the construction of a 7.82-kilometre tunnel road connecting Anakampoli to Meppadi via Kalladi, with the tunnel itself measuring 6.9 kilometres in length. A budget of Rs. 658 crores has been allocated for this project, with funding secured from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
Furthermore, he emphasised the government’s commitment to ensuring quality, utilising advanced technology, and maintaining a corruption-free approach to road construction. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed pride in the LDF government’s accomplishment in ridding the public works sector of political corruption. Additionally, the Konkan Railway Corporation has been designated as the special-purpose entity responsible for overseeing the Kozhikode-Wayanad tunnel road project.
Ecologists raise concern over proposed Koz-Wayanad tunnel road:
— Fridays For Future India (@FFFIndia) October 9, 2020
Project launch’ of the proposed 6.8km-long tunnel road connecting Kozhikode and Wayanad, which is billed as the 3rd longest tunnel road in the country,
(1/3)#ClimateChange #fridaysforfuture pic.twitter.com/JkRmdXInNU
On one hand, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan views the Kozhikode-Wayanad project as a transformative development in the region’s transportation infrastructure, with the potential to benefit both residents and tourists significantly. However, on the other, there is strong opposition from environmental activists who are concerned that the construction of this alternative road to Wayanad could harm the region’s rich biodiversity and disrupt traditional elephant migration routes. Additionally, a major criticism of the project is the absence of essential studies, such as financial feasibility assessments, environmental impact evaluations, and sociological impact assessments, which are mandated by current regulations. Furthermore, this road tunnel, set to become India’s third-largest upon completion, is considered a flagship project of Kerala’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. It involves the excavation of a highly sensitive area within the Western Ghats, adding to the complexity of the project’s impact on the environment and local ecosystems.
In 2020, the local environmental group, Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi (WPSS), expressed concerns about the impact of the road tunnel project on the feeders of the Chaliyar River, which originate from the Wayanad-Kozhikode mountains. On October 31, 2023, the same WPSS, a prominent environmental organisation in the district, issued a press release stating that bypass tunnels and alternative roads would not provide a long-term solution to traffic congestion on the Ghat road. They alleged that political leaders were collaborating with vested interest groups that had acquired extensive land in the Western Ghats region, where alternative roads were being proposed. Back in 2020, Kerala’s Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, had announced that the subterranean road tunnel would be a two-lane structure, offering a broader and alternative route to the congested Thamarassery Ghat road during peak hours. He emphasised that the construction of the tunnel, which involved breaking rocks beneath the forest canopy between Kozhikode and Wayanad, would prioritise environmental and forest protection within the Western Ghats.
The activists on October 31, 2023, contended that the planned tunnel road would traverse the landslide-prone “red zone” of the Western Ghats. This area includes the Puthumala landslide zone, where 17 lives were lost in an avalanche on August 9, 2019. It’s in the same geological zone as the Meppadi panchayat, where the tunnel road terminates and experiences numerous minor landslides during each monsoon season.
