KOCHI: After a long wait, those displaced by the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) project experienced some respite when, on Friday, a meeting chaired by the district collector decided to make the marshy plots of land allocated to them habitable by depositing soil. It had been a longstanding demand of the dislodged families, who had been raising their voices against the injustice of being allotted marshy land as compensation.
A committee headed by executive engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) will be responsible for implementing the action plan. Members of the committee will include executive engineer of Cochin Port Trust (CPT), chief engineer of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL), tehsildar, police, and representatives of protesters.
“The PWD will be responsible for determining the quantity of soil required for the plots, besides transporting and compacting it. CPT will provide the soil. After the soil is filled, KMRL will carry out checks to ensure the land has the required strength for construction of a house,” said Francis Kalathunkal, general convenor, Moolampilly Rehabilitation Package Coordination Committee.
According to him, a high-level meeting will be convened soon with the participation of ministers, MPs, MLAs and the district collector to discuss employment issues faced by the displaced. “We have demanded that at least one person from the displaced families be part of the project. The scrap metal kept by Mulavukad police at the Mulavukad rehabilitation land will also be removed within two weeks.
Nearly 185 of the 316 families who had been evicted from Mulavukad, Moolampilly, Kothad, Cheranalloor, Eloor, Vaduthala, Kadungalloor, Elamakkara and Ponekkara for the ICTT project had been provided wetland plots in Thuthiyoor Adarshan Nagar, Thuthiyoor Indira Nagar and Mulavukad. Unable to construct houses on the land, the displaced families had sought alternative arrangements.
The meeting also directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to grant free toll passes on the container route to those who have given up land.
The collector directed CPT to write to the Central Income Tax Department to return the income tax deducted from the compensation amount received by evicted families in violation of the state government order.
