The sporadic agitation sparked by the socio-economic survey for the SilverLine project at Nattassery, Kottayam appears to be evolving into a resistance movement with the protesters once again forcing K-Rail officials to wind up the survey halfway through.
After their unsuccessful attempts to start the survey in Perumbaikad village for the past three days, Revenue department officials led by the Kottayam tahsildar, escorted by a huge police contingent, arrived at Kuzhiyalippady, near here, around 7.45 a.m. Though the officials managed to lay 12 survey stones before the protest intensified, the local residents led by Kottayam municipal councillors Sabu Mathew and Lissy Kurian obstructed the process.
The police tried to prevent the protesters initially but withdrew in view of the situation snowballing into a deeper crisis. The protesters then went on to pluck off the survey stones and loaded ten of them back to the truck that had transported them. The remaining two stones were taken to the Perumbaikkad village office, in front of which one of those were planted as a mark of protest. The remaining stone was then thrown into the Meenachil river.
“If the officials continue to lay stones in the land of people without their permission, we will remove them and lay them in the properties of those leading the survey,”Mr. Sabu said.
Kottayam legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, District Congress Committee president Nattakom Suresh, Kerala Congress leader Prince Luckose were present. In view of the protest, the officials backed out by noon and following this the crowd dispersed.
It has been nearly a week since the K-Rail authorities have been attempting to carry out the survey at Nattassery. The move, however, has failed following intervention by the agitators on all occasions. The local residents have established a permanent protest encampment at the location and have vowed to maintain it till the project is shelved forever.
