The laying of demarcation stones for the proposed semi-high-speed rail project of Kerala resumed after a brief gap on Thursday triggering criticism over the police booting protesters.
The laying of the demarcation stones, which was facing stiff resistance across the state, was halted over the last couple of weeks. There were reports that the stone laying was put on hold by the CPI(M) government so as to avoid stiff protests against the project coming to the notice of CPI(M) national leaders who were in the state for the party congress earlier this month.
On Thursday the authorities resumed laying stones in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur districts.
In Thiruvananthapuram the police forcefully prevented local people and Congress workers who tried to obstruct laying on the stones. In the melee, a police official was seen booting a Congress worker. The video footage of the incident was going viral, triggering strong protest.
The police ordered a probe into the incident. A civil police officer was suspected to have booted the Congress worker. Congress workers alleged that pro-CPI(M) police personnel were handpicked and being deployed to resist the protests against the project.
At Kannur, Congress workers led by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran uprooted the stones laid. The stones were being laid with heavy police protection.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress also said that all the stones being laid would be uprooted by the party workers.
Meanwhile, former Indian railways official Alok Kumar Verma, who was involved in preparing the preliminary feasibility report of the proposed semi-high-speed rail project named Silver Line, called on the opposition leader on Wednesday and briefed him of the threats and concerns over the project. Though Verma, who is strongly opposing the project, sought an appointment with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, he was yet to get it.
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