National Waterway Extension Work in Doldrums.

The completion of the proposed Kovalam-Manjeswaram national waterway has reached the state of a withering dream as the inland navigation officials are groping in the dark without being able to find alternative routes in some areas in Kannur and Kasargod districts where the alignment proposed earlier had to be abandoned as pressure mounted on them in the form of strong protests from public who were apprehensive of eviction.

In Nittur near Thalassery the protests of locals supported by MLAs Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and K K Narayanan was named Kanneer Canal. The wide support the protest could gain and the timely intervention of State Human Rights Commission compelled authorities to think of alternative routes but they could not succeed in their attempt even after a year. Apprehensions now loom large that the project would enter cold storage like the express way and high-speed rail projects.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS