Bypass project: Police detain agitating villagers in Kannur

The agitation against a proposed National Highway bypass in Keezhattur village in Kannur district took a dramatic turn on Wednesday with protesters including women threatening self-immolation in an attempt to stop land survey for the project.

Tension has been brewing in the village regarding the bypass for many months over the acquisition of paddy fields for the project. On Wednesday, as officials of the Revenue Department and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) visited the location for measuring the land, members of Vayalkilikal - a residents' collective - poured diesel on themselves and threatened to set themselves on fire. They wanted police personnel present at the location to move out of the fields. About 30 protesters were later detained and shifted from the location.

The protesters have been contending that paddy fields are being reclaimed to favour real estate interests. Their stir is also marked by political context -- the village is a stronghold of Kerala's ruling CPM which backs the project and maintains that people set to lose land for the project would be duly compensated.

A collective of residents' village which also comprises CPM workers and supporters is keeping the stir on amid reports that many landowners have already given consent to the NHAI to sell their land for the project. The CPM has expelled 11 of its workers for having participated in the agitation along with Vayalkilikal. The protesters allege that the alignment proposed for the bypass would impact 250 acres of paddy fields.