The State government on Tuesday informed the Kerala High Court that the social impact assessment (SIA) survey for the K-Rail project was being conducted through digital methods such as geotagging wherever people take objection to laying survey stones.
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The submission was made by the government pleader when a writ petition challenging the laying of survey stones without issuing prior notices to landowners came up for hearing before Justice Devan Ramachandran.
When the government submitted that it did not propose to instal survey stones without the permission of the landowners, the Judge observed that this was what the court had been telling the government throughout. The government had then tried to dismiss the opposition to the laying of survey stones as being actuated by certain other motives. In fact, the court was trying to put the government on the right track.
The court pointed out that when the court queried, the government had submitted that the landowners would not be given prior notice before undertaking the survey. The court said that officials walking into a property for laying stones without giving the landowner prior notice was disheartening. The government had to take into confidence the people before implementing any project.
Interim order
The court directed Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL) and the Director of Survey to explain why they had issued letters and orders for conducting the survey by putting up stones without the permission of the court when the court’s interim order restraining the conduct of the survey remained in force.