Residents in Palakkad wary as yellow marking stones for road-widening installed without prior notice
The stones are being installed on the premises of houses, plots and paddy fields. Some of the stones have been put up right beside the walls of houses and adjacent to shops.
The stones are being installed on the premises of houses, plots and paddy fields. Some of the stones have been put up right beside the walls of houses and adjacent to shops.
The stones are being installed on the premises of houses, plots and paddy fields. Some of the stones have been put up right beside the walls of houses and adjacent to shops.
Kinassery: Residents, land owners and shopkeepers along the Puthunagaram - Kinassery Road in Palakkad have raised concerns over the action of the authorities installing yellow-coloured marking stones in private properties, including houses and paddy fields, as part of a road-widening project. The stones, fixed with concrete, are coming up all along both sides of the eight-km road, which is under the Kerala Public Works Department (PWD). The road-widening project is being implemented under KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board).
The work started from Puthunagaram a week ago. Local people said that the authorities began fixing the stones without informing them in advance. The stones are being installed on the premises of houses, plots and paddy fields. Some of the stones have been put up right beside the walls of houses and adjacent to shops.
“The paddy fields along the road are ready for harvest. But, harvesting machines cannot enter the field as the yellow stones have been installed,” said a local farmer.
While authorities said that they had only marked a rough boundary prior to land acquisition for widening the road by installing the stones, the action is causing much difficulties to residents. For instance, the stone has come up close to the front veranda of the house of Chilambath Parameswaran at Thottupalam in Kinassery. “I realised that the stone was being installed for road-widening only when the workers arrived. They went ahead with the work despite my pleas to adopt some other method to mark the boundary as the stone is right in front of my house,” said Parameswaran.
The stones have also been fixed also in the paddy fields belonging to M Venugopal, a farmer in the area, and located on both sides of the road. “I will find it difficult to bring harvesting machines to my fields as the stones will block them,” said Venugopal.
“We are not against road-widening. But, instead of the stones, the authorities should have adopted some other means for the survey and given advance notice,” said a resident of the area.
Meanwhile, authorities said that they were only carrying out a preliminary assessment of the extent of land to be acquired for widening the road between Puthunagaram and Kinassery. “The present boundary markings are not final. The exact area of land to be acquired will be known only after a survey by the Revenue Department. The results of the current survey by KIIFB will be handed over to the Land Acquisition Section in District Collectorate. Subsequently, the Revenue authorities will conduct their survey along the area where the yellow stones have been installed and prepare a sketch of the properties to be acquired,” said an officer.
“During the next stage, notices will be issued to each land owner with details regarding the exact area to be taken over from them. Further measures will be initiated only after deciding the compensation amount and other particulars,” the officer added. The officer also pointed out that a notification regarding the ongoing survey had been issued several years ago.