Protest against ‘hasty’ land acquisition for NH widening

KOCHI: Alleging unreasonable haste in acquiring land between Kappirikkad and Edappally for NH66 widening, National Highway Joint Action Council organised a protest march on Friday. As part of the march held to the NSS Karayogam hall in Kunnumpuram near Edappally where the examination of the documents was progressing, council members burnt the official notification documents.

“With the hearing of cases related to land acquisition in the High Court reaching the final stage, the urgency of the officials to complete the process is suspicious. The government should stop all activities and initiate discussions with the affected families. When the proposed elevated corridor can beimplemented by spending `500 crore less than the existing estimate for widening, the government is going ahead with the project without procuring environmental clearances,” said activist C R Neelakandan during the protest.

The protesters demanded that the Aroor-Thuravoor elevated model be implemented on the stretch. 
“Without evicting any families, the elevated stretch can be completed in 30m. The officials are eying commissions by spending enormous amounts for the project,” he said.Many affected families pointed out that the official notification for the land acquisition of Cheranalloor and Edappally North revenue villages published on January 28 has asked the families to submit all documents in a jiffy.

“Officials have given only a day to procure all the documents to submit claims for our land during the hearing. How are we supposed to ensure documents of the area of land, attached assets and other details in a short duration? It is inhumane the and council members have boycotted the hearing,” said Hashim Chennampilly, chairman of the joint action council.Cheranalloor panchayat president K G Rajesh and vice- president Arifa Muhammed spoke on the occasion.