RailEnquiry

KOZHIKODE: Protest is brewing in various parts of Malappuram and Kozhikode districts against the on-going survey for the proposed Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod high-speed rail corridor.More than 200 people, including women and children, attended a protest meet against the rail corridor held at Thenhippalam in Malappuram on Saturday. Protesters alleged that the authorities had failed to clear apprehensions about the land to be acquired for the project, and the government had gone back on its promise that land at a width of only 15 metres would be acquired for constructing the rail line. They complained that the survey team marked the land at a width of 100 metre instead of 15 metre.In a related development, around 1,000 people took part in a protest march taken out by the 'High Speed Rail Pradhirodha Samithi' to the Kozhikode collectorate on Thursday. Addressing the march, the leaders of the samithi demanded the government to take immediate steps to remove the apprehensions about the alignment and the land acquisition for the project."The project would make thousands homeless and affect the environmental structure of the corridor," said Thayat Balan, an environmental activist.The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has already completed the survey in Atholi and Kakkodi panchayats in Kozhikode and in the coastal areas of Malappuram. The survey team has marked the land for the project with yellow paints. DMRC will prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) based on the survey. When the samithi leaders met people's representatives, including ministers, recently they had put to rest growing apprehension about the project by citing the government's direction to find an alignment that would spare houses, places of worship and densely populated areas. But protesters alleged that the survey team marked properties of temples at Vengeri, Kariyathankavu, Thanneerpanthal, Chelappram and Koyoli areas.High-speed rail corridors have been planned between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram, and Kochi and Palakkad.The project would include elevated and underground rails. The distance between two pillars of the elevated rail would be 25 metres. It has been planned to acquire land at a width of 15 metres for elevated rails, which would be five metres above the ground level.