The groundswell of opposition against the SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project in central Kerala saw the police swing into action on Thursday when hundreds of people blocked the attempts of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd. (K-Rail) authorities to lay survey stones for the project at Madappally, near Changanassery.
The incidents began to unfold at 9 a.m. when a team of officials, accompanied by the police, reached the location. A group of protesters, led by Babu Kuttanchira, leader of the protest council, formed a human wall and blocked their vehicles even as the authorities stood their ground.
Meanwhile, a vehicle that brought the marker stones was forced to leave following alleged stone throwing by the protesters. It, however, returned to the spot with a heavy police security.
As the stand-off intensified, a group of women protesters, holding kerosene bottles in their hands, raised threats of self-immolation. Following this, the police used force to remove the women from the location and even dragged them along the ground, further enraging the mob.
Tension escalated further as workers of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined the protests. As the crowd refused to disperse despite repeated warnings, the police resorted to cane-charging. Several protesters, including Socialist Unity Centre of India leader Mini K. Philip, Kerala Congress leaders V.J. Lally and Joseph M. Puthussery, suffered injuries in the police action.
The police arrested 22 protesters from the site. They were then shifted to the Thrikkodithanam police station. Cases were registered against them under various offences, including rioting and preventing public servants from discharging their duties. Refusing to disperse, the people then staged a march to the police station, seeking immediate release of the protesters. It, however, snowballed into another round of clash with the police preventing their entry onto the station premises.
The UDF workers staged a blockade in front of the station till the release of those in custody and later in the evening they organised a meeting at Thengana Junction. The UDF and the BJP called for a hartal in the Changanassery Assembly segment on Friday.
As the protests subsided, the officials laid eight survey stones along a stretch of about 100 metres. The K-Rail clarified that acquisition of land for the project would begin only after obtaining a final approval of the project by the Railway Board.
“This is just a preliminary inquiry to asses the social impacts under the right to reasonable compensation, transparency and rehabilitation in the event of land acquisition as well the requirement of the project,’‘ the agency said in an official statement.
The protesters, however, sought to counter the argument citing provisions of the Kerala Survey and Boundaries Act, 1961. “Several protesters, including women, suffered serious injuries in the police action and are admitted to hospitals. Legal action will be initiated against the K-Rail for unilaterally planting the survey stones in private properties in violation of the law,’‘ said Chackochan Manalel, State committee member of the anti-K-Rail committee.
