KOCHI: 32 families in Nettoor are waiting for the land acquisition for the doubling of the Ernakulam-Kayamkulam coastal railway line. Of them, 12 families will lose their houses and plots and the rest will lose a portion of their land. The project launched in 2012 is yet to materialise. They have been waiting for the land acquisition and move to a safer place.
The families were given a notification on land acquisition on July 20, 2012, and since then they have been asking for ways to get their compensation and find a new place elsewhere. According to the residents, one cent of the land will cost up to Rs 12 lakh as per the current market price. To construct a new house, Rs 20 lakh is needed, they say. However, authorities are yet to confirm when their rehabilitation package will be released.
Vidyadharan A L, one of the residents whose house and land will be taken during the doubling works, says they have requested the Southern Railway officials to speed up the rehabilitation work and end their misery. “The new deadline is March 2022. People from economically backward sections are living here. I am a fisherman. We are not getting enough catch these days and the climate is also bad. Since our only land is caught up in the project, we are left with no option but to wait.”
The families from Maradu municipality have written a mass petition to the Southern Railway to implement the package and provide jobs to the affected people. They fear the tender procedure for renovations will delay further as more projects are included on the stretch.