Amid mounting protests, the State government has begun the process to acquire 42.03 hectares of land in Kozhikode district for the first phase of the proposed SilverLine corridor project connecting Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram.
As per the detailed project report, the alignment of the ambitious semi high-speed rail project, an initiative of Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail), passes through 73 km in Kozhikode district. K-Rail is a joint venture company of the Kerala government and the Ministry of Railways for the infrastructure development of railways in Kerala.
The proposal is to acquire land in seven villages spread across Kozhikode and Koyilandy taluks. Though the alignment passes through Vadakara taluk, no villages have so far been listed for acquisition in the first phase.
Government sources said permission had been granted to acquire land in Beypore, Cheruvannur, Elathur, Karuvanturathi and Puthiyangadi villages in Kozhikode taluk and Chemmanchery and Chengottukavu villages in Koyilandy taluk.
However, land will be acquired only after securing permission from the Rail Board, based on the social impact report and also a report from the District Collector. Meanwhile, protest has been brewing against the multi-crore ambitious project at the local level. At least a dozen action committees have been constituted against the proposed acquisition of land. A district-level coordination committee has also been formed against the demolishing of houses.
More than 3,000 houses will have to be razed in the district for the project. Land will be acquired mostly in Elathur and Vengalam segments. The proposed alignment also passes from Panniyankara to West Hill.
At present, only an aerial survey has been completed in the district as elsewhere in the State. Steps for land survey and acquisition will be carried out after working out the modalities at the departmental levels. An environmental impact assessment study was conducted by the Centre for Environment and Development, Thiruvananthapuram, in July last for the ₹63,940.67-crore project. The construction period for the project is five years.
The 529.45-km SilverLine corridor connecting Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram, with an operating speed of 200 kmph, is expected to ease commute between the north and south ends of the State and reduce the total travel time to less than four hours, compared to the present 10-12 hours.
The intermediate stations include Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kochi Airport, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode and Kannur. In Kozhikode, the station will be underground.
