Hundreds of people, majority of them women, under the banner of a Vadakara-based people’s action committee, took out a march to the Collectorate on Thursday seeking withdrawal of the government’s move to widen National Highway stretches to 45 metres.
The women protestors carried earthen pots and smashed it in front of the Collectorate as a mark of protest. They urged the government to think of a rehabilitation package before taking steps to acquire land needed for road widening.
Leela Lakshaman, a housewife from Vadakara, inaugurated the protest. She said her husband died due to stress-related ailments. He was unable to bear the stress following the land-acquisition ‘threat’ from the Revenue Department, she said.
She said her family had to go through many difficulties and said the situation should not befall other families.
Representatives of various local bodies and action committee office-bearers also called upon the government to work out a suitable rehabilitation plan. The land-owners should be taken into confidence before surveys were taken up, they said.
Speakers said the government was doing things in an arbitrary manner. The State’s special geo-political situation should be considered before taking such decisions, they said.
The said the people of the region would resort to indefinite and strong protests if the government resorted to high-handed acquisition. C.V. Balagopal, action committee chairman, chaired the protest meet.
