Kochi: The ongoing doubling works at Kottayam section was suddenly stopped on Friday after a railway engineer was allegedly assaulted by a group of local residents demanding that their 'marked land' be acquired first before proceeding with the track doubling works. The Southern Railway Engineers Association (SREA) staged a protest before the Chief Administrative Office, Ernakulam, on Friday morning and stopped the construction activities in the section till "action" is taken against the accused.
Local residents roughed up Senior Section Engineer V Kailas allegedly on Thursday when they were engaged in track doubling works at the Kottayam tunnel. Land of seven persons need to be acquired for track doubling works in the Kottayam tunnel area. The lands were marked and the railways chipped in their part of compensation amount. However, the (state) Revenue department is yet to complete the process.
“What's the railway's fault in this? They assaulted the staff engaged in construction of approaches for the tunnel for no fault of his. We've lodged a complaint with the Kottayam East police station. The attackers were threatening that no works will be allowed there without first acquiring their land,” said a senior officer.
The SREA Thiruvananthapuram divisional president D Hari, while inaugurating the protest here, said the authorities should ensure safe working conditions.
Currently, doubling works are progressing in the 12 km-Kuruppanthura-Piravom and the 27-km long Chingavanom-Thiruvalla sections. The construction activities have already witnessed much delay.
Trains cancelled
Southern Railway will be taking up yard work at Vaikom Road station as a part of track doubling work. The following trains will be cancelled on Saturday to facilitate the works. (Tr No 56381/56382) Passenger trains in Ernakulam-Alapp-uzha - Kayamkulam section, (Tr No 56387/56388) Passenger trains in Ernakulam – Kottayam-Kayam-kulam section, (Tr No56377) Alappuzha-Kayamkulam passenger, (Tr No 56380) Kayamkulam-Ernakulam Passenger via Alappuzha leaving Kayamkulam, (Tr No 66302/66303) Kollam - Ernakulam - Kollam MEMU service via Alappuzha, (Tr No 66300/ 66301) Ernakulam-Kollam-Ernakulam MEMU via Kottayam, (Tr No66307/66308) MEMU service between Ernakulam-Kottayam-Kollam, (Tr No56394/56393) Kollam-Kottayam-Kollam Passenger
