Title - Encroachers evicted from old railway station

KOCHI: A day after railways announced its plan to renovate the old railway station near Kerala High Court, over 20 encroachers, mainly makeshift shops, were evicted from the station premises on Tuesday.The eviction, which started at 10am with the help of around 15 RPF personnel from Pachalam railway gate, lasted for about four hours. Six families, who illegally built houses on the railway land and further encroached on its property, were given 20 days' time to demolish those buildings. Railway authorities said that many encroachers were evicted around two years ago. After the eviction, a resurvey will be done. The eviction was carried out on the direction of Thiruvananthapuram divisional railway manager, Rajesh Agrawal, who inspected the site last week, according to sources.The railways will soon write to Kochi corporation to rehabilitate 28 families, who have constructed permanent structures on the land, according to sources. "The high court has directed for their rehabilitation before demolishing their houses. It's the responsibility of the local body to rehabilitate them. If they fail to do so, we are planning to approach the court," said an official.

Sources said the railways was planning to extend Mainline Electrical Multiple Units (Memu) trains to the old station. But P L Ashok Kumar, area manager, Southern Railway, Ernakulam, denied having any such plans.

"It's not possible to extend Memu in the immediate future as tracks need to be relaid. The main building also has to be renovated," he said.