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The Chief Engineer (Roads and Bridges), Public Works Department (PWD), has prepared the proposal by invoking sections of the Kerala Highway Protection Act, 1999.

The proposal says a stretch of 35 metres from the central line of the National Highways will have to be left untouched as a building line on either flank. The building line will be 20 metres for the State highways and 15 metres for the main district roads. These areas will be no-development zones.

The Act defines the building line as “a line on either side of a highway as may be determined by the competent authority.” The Act says, “any officer of the Government in Public Works Department appointed by government by notification in the Gazette to be [will be] the competent authority…”

In addition to the building line, an imaginary line called control line will be created for the roads, which will be 45 metres from the central line in the case of the National highways. Moreover, for all constructions, a statutory clearance of 3 metres will have to be left from the control line. Construction will be permitted only beyond this line. The control line will be 25 metres from the central line in the case of the State highways and 20 metres for the main district roads.

The PWD proposal says that for any construction between the building line and the control line, the permission of the National Highways Authority of India will be required. In principle, no construction of a permanent nature will be allowed between the building line and the control line.

The competent authority shall determine building lines and control lines in respect of any category of highway in such a way that the distance between the middle of a highway and the building line or that between the building line and the control line shall be fixed with due regard to the requirements of safety and convenience of traffic and the future development of the highway.

On the restriction on use of land between the highway boundary and the building line, the Act says that no person shall construct, form or lay out any means of access to, or from, a highway, or a compound wall without the written permission of the highway authority; or erect or re-erect any building or materially alter the outside structural features of any existing building, including any additions; or alter the level of land by lowering, raising, digging or filling up, except with the written permission of the highway authority; or construct, form or lay out any works upon land lying in between the boundary of a highway and the building lines determined in respect of that highway.

However, these restrictions shall not apply to any work in connection with the repair, renewal, enlargement or maintenance or improvement of any sewer, drain, electric line, pipe, duct or other apparatus, constructed in or upon the land before the date of commencement of the Act.

The Act is meant “to provide for the protection and development of highways and for the prevention of ribbon development along highways and encroachment and use of highways for purposes which will adversely affect the safety of traffic and proper condition of highways in the State of Kerala.”

The Governor gave his assent to the Act on January 20, 2000, after the highway protection Bill was passed by the Assembly.

The basic purpose of the Act is to prevent “ribbon type” of development and regulate construction along the roads, said Tom Jose, Principal Secretary, Public Works Department.

The Act attempts to prepare the ground for future development of the National highways and make land available for it.

Moreover, unobstructed vision and traffic should be facilitated on the National highways.

Traffic should also flow uninterrupted and the roads should be made accident-free, he said, explaining the logic behind the formulation of the Act.

If the proposal made by the PWD authorities is implemented, the land on either flanks of these roads till the control line will remain frozen for all practical purposes.

While the existing structures on either flank will be spared, no new structures will be permitted up to the control line. There will be no immediate acquisition of land along these roads. Whenever land acquisition is required, the provisions of the land acquisition Act will be invoked and the land value will be fixed by the District Collector, Mr. Jose said.

Responding to the proposals, George E. George, chairman of the Kerala Builders’ Forum, demanded that the State government roll out its plan for the expansion of the National highways before issuing the notification.

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