Over 700 acres to be acquired for new four lane road connecting Thoothukudi, Tiruchendur and Kanniyakumari

Over 700 acres of land covering Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts is to be acquired for the development of a new four-lane road along the Thoothukudi-Tiruchendur-Kanniyakumari route. The new alignment is proposed for around 104 km.

Recently, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had issued a notification for the acquisition of lands in Thoothukudi district, including taluks such as Tiruchendur, Eral, Sathankulam and Thoothukudi.

According to sources from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the project was initially planned to be undertaken by NHAI, and the alignment was formed and No Objection Certificate (NOC) was signed by former Thoothukudi district Collector K. Senthilraj. However, due to unknown reasons it was then handed over to the National Highways (NH) department and is now expected to be handed back to NHAI.

The notification issued by MoRTH for the NH 32 TTK (Thoothukudi-Tiruchendur-Kanniyakumari) road has been planned to cover villages, including Nathakulam, Moolakarai, Siruthondanallur, Kandasamypuram, Keela Tiruchendur, Madhavankurichi, Udangudi, Padukkapathu and Mudivaithanendal in Thoothukudi district. The notification for the villages in Tirunelveli district is yet to be released.

Speaking on this, an official from the NH said NH-32 TTK Road is completely a new alignment parallel to the existing road at some places. “Two separate Tahsildars for both the districts have been assigned for the acquisition of lands and an amount of ₹392.33 crore have been allocated for the land acquisition.” the official added.

The official noted that the new road will benefit people, considering the major development along the stretch such as Kulasekarapattinam space port, Udangudi Supercritical Thermal Power Project, Kudankulam nuclear power plant, as well as the heavy traffic movement along the route.

“Approximately one to one and a half years has been allocated for the land acquisition. Following that, a Detailed Project Report will be prepared , and based on that the project cost will be estimated,” the official said.

This new corridor connecting Kanniyakumari to Thoothukudi via Tiruchendur, is expected to reduce the travel time for the public, who undertake spiritual tourism as the route has many famous temples, churches and mosques.