Thiruvananthapuram: District collectors in Kerala have been tasked with the smooth laying of survey stones for the SilverLine project of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (K-Rail). They have been ordered to convene meetings so as to remove obstacles and apprehensions regarding the laying of stones.

The proposed meetings will address concerns over the purpose of laying survey stones, land acquisition formula, compensation etc. The people likely to be affected by the project and elected people’s representatives will take part in the meetings. Though there is no special invite for the representatives of the political parties, they will not be prevented if they wish to attend.

In most places the collectors will take part in the meeting and in the remaining areas the presence of deputy collector and K-Rail officials will be ensured.

Besides, ward-level meetings will be convened in all wards which had witnessed protests against stonelaying. The ward meetings will begin from areas which had seen only minor protests. All these meetings are expected to begin this week itself.

The grassroot meetings are besides the public hearings being organised by the agencies concerned in connection with the social impact study. Even though the government had held meetings of prominent citizens earlier, this is the first time that the authorities are convening the meetings of citizens to explain about the project.

The government’s earlier decision to convene meetings of the prominent citizens and keep out the affected families from such an interaction had invited huge criticism from various quarters. Though CPM workers are presently carrying out a door-to-door campaign regarding the project, such activities do not have an official stamp.

But with efforts being made by the government to lay survey stones getting stymied in the face of vehement protests at the local level, it has now decided to go down to the people to directly interact with them.

The stonelaying activities have come to a standstill in the state for the past several days. The government deferred the process for the moment in view of the CPM Party Congress which is currently in session in Kannur and the opposition aired by the CPI against forcible stonelaying.