KOCHI/TRIPUNITHURA: Agitation against the SilverLine project continued in Chottanikkara on Wednesday. The survey stones to be laid in Chottanikkara were transported in a police vehicle on Wednesday due to the protests over the days in the area and with the stones being dumped in nearby water bodies.
The number of protesters, especially women and the elderly, increased on Wednesday in comparison to the previous days. As Adiyakkal area in Chottanikkara was crowded with protesters, K-Rail officials reached Kidangayam junction, where the presence of protesters was less, to lay the survey stones. Hearing this, protesters rushed there and prevented stone laying.
As the protesters did not budge, the officials returned in the police vehicle. Meanwhile, it has been decided to set up a protest shed in the area on Thursday to intensify the agitation.
“We will continue our protests against the project, on which people and ministers have no clear information. K-Rail will cause ecological disaster at a time when climate change issues are raging around us,” said Ernakulam DCC president Mohammed Shiyas.
Chottanikkara has turned out to be a hotbed of protests against K-Rail in Ernakulam district for nearly a week.
The survey stone laying for the project in Ernakulam started in January this year. A major protest against the project was first reported in Parakkadavu in Angamaly with protesters uprooting stones, piling it up at a junction and placing a wreath over it. As the protests grew, officials halted the stone laying and resumed by February-end.
However, the protests continued but with less intensity as the one in Parakkadavu. Nedumbassery and Aluva areas witnessed local residents and local UDF leaders raising objections to the stone laying. The protests gained traction as it reached Chottanikkara last week, and after UDF leaders, including MLA Anoop Jacob and Shiyas, undertook the agitation. Despite the widespread protests, police registered only two cases in the district so far — one each in Parakkadavu and Chottanikkara.
According to K-Rail officials, more than 1,500 survey stones have to be laid along the project alignment in the district. However, nearly 30 stones were lost after protesters uprooted and dumped it.
“We have so far laid stones along around 26km in Ernakulam and the rest around the 23-24km stretch towards Kottayam side is yet to be laid. We have to lay more than 1,500 survey stones as per the alignment in Ernakulam. The stones uprooted in Parakkadavu were restored later. The protests in Chottanikkara are still continuing and the protesters removed stones on Wednesday too,” said a source in K-Rail.
