Kooriyad, May 31 – A section of the under-construction National Highway 66 in the southern Indian state of Kerala collapsed earlier this month, sparking a wave of safety concerns, expert criticism, and political fallout as the federal and state governments scramble to contain the crisis.
The collapse occurred on May 19 at Kooriyad in Malappuram district after heavy rainfall triggered a failure in the embankment supporting an elevated section of the highway. No fatalities were reported, but multiple vehicles were damaged, and passengers sustained minor injuries as large fissures opened across a 200-metre stretch of the road.
“I thought the earth was shaking,” said Shamsudheen Kollenchery, a local resident whose car was caught in the collapse. “We escaped narrowly, but the entire structure gave way like paper.”
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which oversees the project, initially blamed the incident on rainwater seepage. However, several experts, including veteran engineer E. Sreedharan and road infrastructure specialist Anilkumar Pandala, refuted the claim, calling it a textbook case of engineering failure.
“This was not just a matter of rain. It’s poor construction and inadequate compaction,” said Pandala. “The embankment was simply not built to bear the stress.”
The incident has raised broader alarm as similar structural issues have emerged along NH-66 in other parts of the state. In Thrissur district, a 50-metre crack appeared on an overbridge at Manathala. Attempts to repair the damage with bitumen and quarry dust failed amid further rainfall, prompting the formation of an expert panel to assess the site.
In Kozhikode, cracks were reported on stretches of the Vengalam-Ramanattukara segment, including a 400-metre fissure on a newly built flyover in Thiruvangur. In Kannur’s Kuppam area, homes were flooded with mud and rainwater after the highway embankment, built on a 45-degree slope, channeled water into residential areas.
Residents across the affected districts—Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Thrissur—have protested against what they call “unscientific construction methods.”
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has blacklisted KNRCL, the contractor responsible for the Malappuram stretch, and a team of geotechnical experts has been deployed to inspect the site. NHAI has admitted to lapses and said it will replace the failed embankment with a 400-metre bridge, expected to be completed in four months.
The highway collapse has also triggered political sparring. The opposition Congress party accused the ruling CPI(M)-led state government of corruption and incompetence, calling the failure a “monumental engineering and administrative disaster.”
Kerala’s Public Works Minister, P.A. Mohamed Riyas, who had previously promoted the project on social media, defended the administration’s role, while Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the Congress of exploiting the crisis.
The BJP, which oversees the Ministry of Road Transport at the federal level, also faced criticism. State party president Rajeev Chandrasekhar visited the site and said he would brief Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on the matter.
Experts questioned the decision to construct embankments instead of viaducts in waterlogged areas like Kooriyad, citing cost-cutting as a contributing factor. “A viaduct would have cost more, but it would have been safer,” said Sreedharan.
As monsoon season intensifies, calls for stricter oversight and engineering audits grow louder. “The stakes are too high,” said C.K. Babu, a Kozhikode resident. “This is not just about a road—it’s about lives.”
