Perwad is a small junction along the Thalappady-Karode route in Kerala’s Kasaragod district. Life around this nondescript junction in Kumbla panchayat was massively disrupted a few months back when the construction of NH 66, an access-controlled elevated express highway, gained momentum. The people of Perwad found that the six-lane project made a permanent cut on their social fabric and livelihoods.
Around 1,000 families, mostly from the fishing community, use the junction, and the bus stop as an access point for their daily journeys. Lying close by to Perwad junction, on either side of the road, is a higher secondary school, a college, an anganwadi, a fisheries colony, two mosques, two temples, two petrol pumps and a few shops and other small establishments.
The National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) NH 66 development project has been designed to have an exit only once in five kilometres and provides underpasses for local transport at a five kilometre interval. Private vehicles on short distance journeys and buses shall ply on a six and a half metre-wide service road on either side of the highway. For the residents it acts as a tall and broad barrier that splits their region in two.
The residents of Perwad had petitioned various authorities four-months back, when they first realised its potentially harmful impact on the community. Since there was no response to their petition, they began an indefinite strike at the junction. People gather at the Perwad junction every evening and are determined to continue this until an amicable solution is arrived at. The strike demands an underpass at Perwad junction to connect both sides of the highway. While similar demands have been met in other places like Uppala, the residents of Perwad believe their demands remain unheard because of their low social capital and lack of political influence.
The social, economic, cultural and psychological effect that this will have on the people is huge, says Nizad Perwad, a former government servant and social activist. “There are elders in the vicinity who visit the mosque on the other side of the highway five times a day to offer namaz. With the construction of the elevated highway, what should have been a short walk across the road becomes a few kilometres-long journey that needs to be undertaken on a vehicle,” he explains. For many elders, the trips to the mosque are not a mere expression of faith. It is also an activity where acquaintances and friends catch up over a cup of tea. It is their only means of social engagement, says Nizad.
Local residents are expected to rely only on the narrow service roads on either side of highway.
Ramla PH, former Kumbla panchayat president and an anganwadi worker, believes that women will be among the worst-hit by the development project. Several women in Perwad work as domestic workers. They start from their homes early in the morning and walk long distances to reach their workplaces. “As crossing the highway by foot will no longer be possible, these women are forced to start even earlier and walk longer. Several of their families depend on their income for subsistence. Hence the elevated highway will be a roadblock for their aspirations and dreams,” she says. An underpass could significantly reduce their travails, she says.
Perwad is not an area of economically well-off persons. Many still travel to their destinations by foot. Eight roads and numerous pocket roads join the highway at Perwad. The hundreds of families dependent on Perwad junction for access to public transport already walk a few kilometres to reach there. Asking them to walk a few extra kilometres to merely cross the highway is unjust, Ramla says. However, a foot overbridge is not the solution they seek. “Most of the pedestrians are elderly people, women and children. They also include hawkers from Perwad’s fishing community. They cannot be expected to climb up a foot overbridge. We need an underpass through which small vehicles can pass,” she says.
Perwad also has several chronically ill and disabled persons. “One of my neighbours needs to be frequently taken to the hospital by ambulance. An underpass will be the only solution for them,” she adds. According to her, two endosulfan victims who relocated from Badiyadka several years ago also live in Perwad.
School children are another lot whose daily routine has been upset with the construction of the elevated express highway. The Government Vocational Higher Secondary School in Mogral is just one kilometre south of Perwad. But with just the narrow service roads for buses, only those towards north will run on the eastern service road, while those towards south will run only on the western service road. “What this means is that a one kilometre-long southward journey for a student living on the eastern side of Perwad will now involve a three kilometre northward journey to the nearest underpass, from where she has to change buses and travel four kilometres southward to reach the school,” Nizad says. An additional six kilometre travel, an extra bus journey and higher bus fare are the punishments that NH 66 metes out to Perwad’s school children.
Such narrow service roads are a bane restricted to Kerala, according to Nizad. They are a result of Kerala’s insistence on restricting highway width to 45 m, as opposed to 60 m elsewhere, on account of the state’s limited land availability and high population density. Had high population density truly been a concern, the government should have redirected the highway through less populous places on the Cherkala-Thalappady stretch like Ulayathadka, Seethangoli, Chevar and further through the hill highway, Nizad argues. The coastal region through which the highway now passes is thickly populated.
A major drawback of the narrow service road is frequent roadblocks. No overtaking is possible and vehicle breakdown can make matters worse, especially in case of an emergency when ambulances need to pass. The service roads do not have any space or provision for bus bays either. On one side is the towering wall of the elevated highway and on the other numerous shops and buildings.
Several small businesses had cropped up on either side of the road in the past years. Hotels focussed on long distance travellers, fuel pumps and other businesses have been hit because of the highway. The loss of footpath and parking space will also adversely affect the local population and its businesses, Nizad points out.
“Those doing business on the sides of the highway will lose customers as passengers on the main carriageway cannot travel down from the elevated highway. Many hotels that depended on highway passengers are on the verge of closure,” Nizad says. Far worse is the situation of roadside vendors selling fruits and vegetables. “They will be completely deprived of their livelihood means,” he says.
“There are two fuel pumps on either side of the highway in Perwad. These will face heavy revenue loss as only those vehicles travelling in one direction on the service road will be able to buy from them,” Nizad explains. Grocery shops and other small establishments also stand to lose as customers both from among highway passengers and from the other side of the highway will no longer be able to buy from them. Goods vehicles catering to these establishments have also been affected.
Six laning work of NH 66 underway near Perwad, Kasaragod.
The affected residents of Perwad petitioned several authorities like their local MLA, MP, the NHAI and others. MLA AKM Ashraf told them that he was unaware that the highway would be an elevated, access-controlled one, as he had not been given a copy of the Detailed Project Report (DPR). Nizad also alleges that MP, Rajmohan Unnithan, also washed his hands off saying he is only an Opposition party member. “Politicians only discuss communal issues in Kasaragod. They have no concern over the struggles of the poor,” alleges Nizad. Union government departments, on the other hand, are highly inaccessible for those without influence, he adds.