THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Contrary to the state government’s claims, land acquisition proceedings for the SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project have already begun, gazette notifications show. A series of notifications by different district administrations clearly state that the government has issued directions to conduct the survey for land acquisition for the project.
A total of thirteen 6 (1) notifications under the Kerala Survey and Boundaries Act 1961 were issued by 11 district administrations — mostly by special tahsildars for K Rail — in October 2021. Most of them state that a survey will be carried out for land acquisition. They all mention the survey numbers of each property where the survey has to be made.
Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan alleged the government is going ahead with land acquisition under the cover of Social Impact Assessment (SIA). “There is no need to lay stones for SIA. It’s meant for land acquisition. The government has assured the Kerala High Court that land won’t be acquired now. But it is going ahead with land acquisition proceedings,” he said.
It could well be suspected that stones are laid to mark the boundaries of the land to be acquired. The government recently told the High Court that the stone-laying is being done as per the Kerala Survey and Boundaries Act. It has maintained that a decision on land acquisition will be taken only after SIA is over and the Railways gives final approval.
Another notification issued in January states that the SIA will be conducted under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. While the SIA is only a prelude to taking a final decision on the project, the notification explains that it has been directed to acquire 130.6452 hectares of land in Thiruvananthapuram district.
The government’s decision to go ahead with land acquisition is also evident from another order issued by the revenue department last August. It was issued sanctioning creation of a special deputy collector office in Ernakulam and 11 special tahsildar land acquisition offices in 11 districts for the K-Rail project. The government has also given its nod for acquisition of 955.13ha of land in various villages of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod districts. The sanction has been given subject to the condition that the SIA is conducted and approved, and a final approval from the Railway Board too is obtained.
Meanwhile, K-Rail has maintained that only the preliminary activities for land acquisition are on. The revenue department notification is only for preliminary activities in connection with land acquisition, said K-Rail Managing Director V Ajith Kumar.
“No survey is being carried out now. The stone-laying is part of the process of demarcating an area for conducting SIA. It’s part of the preliminary activity for land acquisition. The government order in this regard states that 8(1) notification will be issued only after the project is approved by the Railways,” he said.
Series of gazette notifications
A series of gazette notifications by different district administrations state the government has issued directions to conduct the survey for land acquisition for the project
State govt says a decision on land acquisition will be taken only after SIA is over and the Railways gives final approval