After years of uncertainty, recent steps by the Central and State governments on the Angamaly-Sabari rail project have rekindled hopes among people along the proposed corridor, despite a section of them sharing fears triggered by bitter experience from the past.
Officials claimed that the project, which remained stalled for over 25 years due to multiple hurdles, had entered the right track, with the State government announcing that it would bear 50% of the cost, including land acquisition expenses, and the Railway Ministry de-freezing the project.
Thousands of families, whose land parcels remain earmarked for the 110-km railway line covering parts of Ernakulam, Idukki and Kottayam districts, hope that with the latest steps their land will be acquired by the government, and that they will be paid due compensation without further delay.
“Unlike earlier, I’m a bit hopeful now,” M.P. Viswanathan Nair, an ex-NRI with an earmarked property in Okkal panchayat, said. He said that the Central and State governments coming together for the project had increased his confidence. He added that he had not been able to sell or mortgage his land ever since it was earmarked for the project. “Those around me who share my fate are also by and large hopeful now, though there are doubts over how much progress will be made before the Assembly elections,” he said.
