The ownership claims of Kollam bypass, which was inaugurated on Tuesday will not end anytime soon. Kollam bypass is a blessing for passengers travelling through the national highway. The initials plans were set by former PWD minister T K Divakaran 47 years ago and it took almost half a century to complete the works. Both LDF and UDF are trying to claim the ownership of the road. Party workers are also having verbal debates over the matter. However, many people have been asking why the project took this much time to get completed? The third stage of the bypass construction got finished now following the intervention of High Court in 2012 November. High court had put a force on both the central and union governments to finish the work immediately and the construction works were restarted following it.

The foundation stone was laid in 1972 February. However, construction started only after two decades. 3 km road was initially constructed within a budget of Rs 2.75 cr. However it took eighteen years to complete further work of 9 km and the cost was around Rs 352 cr. All these political parties and leaders were here. It is true that they took an initiative to complete the project which was stuck, however they are also responsible for the delay in the project. This bypass would have been established if the government and political parties were a bit more responsible.

A delay should not occur in such developmental projects and leaders should take their own interest in implementing it. They should be sincere instead of fighting for the ownership. If that had happened, Kollam bypass would have become a success many years ago.