Alappuzha: Amid a row over credit for the Makkekadavu-Nere Kadavu bridge connecting Alappuzha and Kottayam districts, Independent MLA and former PWD Minister G Sudhakaran on Monday outlined his role in initiating the project during the first Pinarayi Vijayan government.
Chief Minister V D Satheesan inaugurated the 800-metre-long and 11-metre-wide bridge connecting the two districts on Sunday.
The controversy erupted after PWD Minister P K Basheer and former CPI(M) MP A M Ariff sparred over credit for the bridge at its inauguration.
Sudhakaran, who served as PWD Minister in the LDF government from 2016 to 2021, left the CPI(M) this year and won the Ambalapuzha Assembly seat as an independent candidate backed by the UDF.
In a Facebook post, Sudhakaran described the bridge as a major infrastructure project that would substantially ease travel difficulties for people in Alappuzha and Kottayam districts.
He said the bridge was inaugurated at a grand ceremony attended by the Chief Minister, the PWD Minister, the local MLA and others, adding that the public’s affection for the project was evident from the large turnout.
“During the first Pinarayi government, when I was the PWD Minister, I travelled through the Vaikom area in Kottayam and parts of Alappuzha before allocating around Rs 80 crore for the bridge. The foundation stone was laid on the Vaikom side,” he said.
The original plan was to hold the inauguration on the Alappuzha side after completing the bridge, he said.
However, construction was delayed after one or two families in the area refused to part with land for the approach road.
“The government also decided that the landowners should not be forced to give up their land. As a result, the construction was delayed,” he said.
Referring to reports of claims over the project at Sunday’s inauguration, Sudhakaran said Ariff, who was the local MLA when the project was initiated, was the only person on the dais directly associated with the bridge’s construction.
He questioned whether Ariff had been able to explain the facts behind the project and said the Chief Minister and the PWD Minister should have acknowledged the initiative taken during his tenure.
“They should have said this, but they do not know about it. However, Shanimol knows it well,” he said, referring to Deputy Speaker and Aroor MLA Shanimol Usman.
Sudhakaran said he had no complaint about not receiving an invitation to the inauguration, despite having been the minister who initiated the project and now representing Ambalapuzha as an MLA.
“But the people know everything,” he said.
He added that around 500 bridges were taken up for construction across the state during his tenure as PWD Minister from 2016 to 2021.
These included the Rs 100-crore Perumbalam bridge, the Rs 80-crore Makkekadavu-Nere Kadavu bridge and the Nedumbrakkad bridge in Cherthala, he said.
Noting that several bridges initiated during the period remain incomplete, Sudhakaran congratulated everyone involved in realising the Makkekadavu-Nere Kadavu bridge project.
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