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.
