The Kerala government has decided to abandon the laying of alignment stones for a social impact assessment survey for the proposed semi-high-speed rail corridor called K-Rail. The alignment will now be fixed through a GPS survey instead. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the widespread protests against the laying of the stones. The Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL) had already suspended the stone-laying after the bypoll in the Thrikkakara Assembly segment in Ernakulam district was announced. The government sees the May 31 bypoll as a "referendum" on its ambitious Rs 63,000-crore project. The state revenue department, in a directive to the KRDCL, said, “Rather than planting boundary stones, the KRDCL is directed to use either the geo-tagging method using good software, an app or through demarcating the boundaries by marking permanent structures. Further, the KRDCL should assist the social impact assessment (SIA) team to identify the alignment either by DGPS survey equipment or mobile phones with the GPS facility as proposed so that the SIA team may identify the affected persons and collect the data properly. After the GPS survey, the boundary stones can be placed where landowners consent for the same, and at other locations the alignment can be demarcated by marking permanent structures." KRDCL managing director Ajith Kumar said that only the method of the survey had changed. Opposition Leader VD Satheesan hailed the decision to suspend the laying of the stones. “It is a victory of the Opposition’s protests. The government registered several cases against people who had protested the laying of the alignment stones. All such cases should be withdrawn,’’ he said. The laying of the stones had become a law-and-order problem after the KRDCL sought police help to complete the stone-laying process in the face of the protests. The government agency could not complete it in many villages. The Congress-led Opposition and the BJP have been putting up stiff resistance to the survey. The project would require the acquisition of 1,221 hectares of land in various villages. The KRDCL had been laying boundary stones to demarcate the alignment for conducting a social impact assessment.
