KANHANGAD: On a day when the Union government told the Kerala High Court that the state government should stop the proceedings of acquiring land for the SilverLine project, around 35 residents of Padna and Trikaripur panchayat filed separate police complaints against the state government for "illegally" erecting boundary stones on their property.
More than 400 complaints will be filed against the project and the "encroachment" of private properties in Chandera police station, said K V Jathindran, chairman of K-Rail Resistance Committee.
Jathindran's committee represents residents from a 6-km stretch from Thadiyan Kovval at Udinoor in Padna gram panchayat to North Trikaripur in Trikaripur panchayat. "Within that stretch, around 150 families will lose their land. From Trikaripur town to Olavara bridge, more than 400 families will be affected. The entire Trikaripur town will be obliterated by the SilverLine project," he said.
But that was not why Jathindran was opposing the project. "I have around 1.4 acres and I am losing only four cents and the government will compensate me adequately. I am against SilverLine because it will be ecologically a disastrous project," he said.
Apart from houses, paddy fields, playgrounds, places of worship and business establishments are in the line of the project.
On Friday, the Union government told the high court that the in-principle nod given to the state government was for preparing a Detailed Project Report. The Ministry of Railways was still studying the financial feasibility and alignment of the project.
Residents of Padna and Trikaripur said the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail), which is implementing the SilverLine project, has violated their property. "They have erected the boundary stones in our property without even serving a notice or seeking permission," said C K A Rasheed of Trikaripur. In his complaint, he has asked the police to remove the boundary stones. Almost all the complaints are similar to Rasheed's.
Residents said K-Rail has hired an outside agency to demarcate the alignment for the project. In Nileshwar, police gave protection to the agency to erect boundary stones on private property in the face of stiff opposition from residents.
Now, the residents are taking the legal route to stall the project. "Those who have moved the high court have got relief. We are planning to tag along," said Jathindran.