Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the start of blasting work for the controversial Wayanad Tunnel Project between Annakampwell and Meppadi on Friday.
CM Vijayan, accompanied by PWD Minister PA Muhammad Riyas and local MLA Lintu Joseph, arrived at Mariposa in Kozhikode district where he attended the ‘first blast’ ceremony of the 8.73 km long twin tunnel project. In compliance with all safety procedures, CM Vijayan switched on the system and the explosives placed at the entrance of one of the tubes of the proposed tunnel were detonated.
Construction of the twin tunnel tube project, which aims to provide an alternative mode of transport to people traveling to Wayanad, began in August last year. Of the 8.73 km long road, 8.11 km will be in the form of a tunnel extending under the fragile hills and forests of the Western Ghats. The tunnel is scheduled to be completed by 2029, and is being developed at a cost of $Rs 2,134.5 crore from Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). With Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) as the special purpose vehicle, the construction work is being carried out by Dilip Buildcon Limited in Bhopal.
The project was controversial. A section of environmentalists has claimed that tunneling through a very fragile part of the Western Ghats would destabilize slopes in the region, trigger landslides, interfere with the movement of wild elephants in the region and disturb tribal settlements.
The tunnel entrance on the Wayanad side is just 800 meters from Puthumala, the site of a major landslide in 2019 that claimed 17 lives, project documents showed.
Despite opposition from activists, the project has received approval from the State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The Phase II clearance from the Union ministry last month gives approval to convert more than 17 hectares of forest land for construction activities.
