Except for a tender gush of rainwater cascading through a crystal-clearer revolution outside its window, Daisy’s house Er Ekcombu, a few meters from the Pala-Tatodupuzha road, sits in total silence.
On the one hand, by rolling green hills and a patchwork of the field on the other side, the scene can easily translate a postcard. But for 60 -year -old Daisy, staying alone at home, she was once built with her late husband Karichan, this silence is away from peaceful.
His children are now far away. The days slide quietly, only the birds break up with the rustle of the leaves and the rustle of the leaves. But now, there are memories that break silence that keeps popping up two decades in advance.
In his backyard, half-arms in thick underground, a moss-wave boundary installed by railway surveyors a few years ago. For Daisy, it is a marker of promises.
The day it appeared, his life has taken a turn. His life suddenly got stuck. He is unable to sell holding or use it as collateral. His house, like his life, is trapped in the shadow of a railway line which never came. The project is the Sabari railway line, a long-increased route means to connect with the pilgrims of Sabarimala through the rubber-up areas of the Central Travancore.
The land of Daisy was once kept for Rampuram railway station, which was expected to serve six panchayats in Meenachil taluk. About 80% of his assets, including Farmland and Poleders, were marked for acquisition. “This land was the center of protests,” she says, she stared at the peace beyond her door.
“Now all this is gone and calm. People are tired. We just want clarity. Are we living? Or we are leaving?” She asks. Protests began after marking the railway line through the area. Her husband, Karichan, was at the forefront of the movement. “But it was long ago. Now no one is opposing it. We just want to know what comes next,” Daisy said in an disillusionment.
Just a few meters away, another life is suspended in uncertainty. The 75 -year -old Josef goes to the Kavalthil Rubber Nursery for rows of rubber plant, which he has nurtured for more than four decades. Unlike Daisy, he is less concerned about losing the ground, but is troubled by the uncertainty forcing the proposed project to his life.
“My house is on the alignment of the railway line. So I have children,” they say. “We have created our life here. If the railway is coming, let them say this. Should we stay or move forward?”
For more than a quarter of a century, this question has been reported about more than 5,000 families (from Kaldi to Ramapuram) at a distance of 70 kilometers of the railway project, whose assets have been surveyed and identified. Some properties were surveys on foot, others by air, but all remain in Limbo. No one can do construction, sale or hostage because all the transactions related to the property have come to a standstill. Life is stopped, waiting for a future that never comes.
At the other end of the line, things are not better. Near the Cochin International Airport, Kaldi railway station, the only station built under the project in its initial stage is deserted. Weeds have uprooted the stage. Even locals have forgotten about the existence of the station.
Across the Periyar River in Okkal, the house of MP Vishwanathan Nair stands as another casualty of an ambitious project that never became physical. A former non -resident Kerlite, he expected to expand his modest 900 square foot house. But the dream fell before it stopped.
“By the time I came back, the revenue authorities had marked the land for the project. The railway line was to be cut correctly through my holding,” he remembers. He said, “He said that I would not get compensation for any new work. Therefore, I left the House. It has been over 20 years,” he says.
Although he tried to sell Holding, the potential buyers went to know about the ground situation. A few years later, he contacted the Revenue Department seeking compensation. The authorities returned their application without offering any clarification.
Unable to bear uncertainty, he joined a hunger strike outside the same office. It went on 21 days before the epidemic stopped by restrictions. Now, there is a flicker of hope.
Recently, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi agreed to resume land acquisition for the Vijayan project.
Kerala Minister in charge of Railways V. Abdurhiman says that some issues related to cost-sharing formula between the central and state government and administrative matters are yet to be resolved. “The project is eventually moving forward. We are waiting for the final intimacy from the Railways by the first week of July,” they say.
“Since the alignment was fixed years ago, there is no need to change it and bother people again. If all goes well, the land acquisition will be completed within a year,” they say.
But the number tells the story of mass delay.
Of the 111 km long route (where the physical survey has not been done), only seven kilometers of tracks are kept. In addition, the station near Kaldi stands as the only entire structure of a lonely bridge project on the Periyar River. The Union Budget of 1997–1998 was approved, the project has achieved only 24 ha out of the required 303 hectares. The basic estimate of ₹ 550 crore has now been around ₹ 4,000 crore.
“Darshan was always clear,” former Union Minister PC Thomas says, who first proposed the project. He believes that it can change pineapple cultivation from plywood and rice mills to Pinematic farming in Wazakulam and tourism in high borders.
“It will open the export route to crops such as pineapple, cardamom, black pepper and rubber,” they say. “But we have lost time, resources and trust.”
Along with the route, 11 Sabari Railway Action Council was formed, which eventually merged to form the Sabari Railway Central Action Council.
Towns such as Thodupuzha, Muvatupuzha, Kothamangalam, and Perumbavur became protest sites, where people were disappointed for years of uncertainty on displacement and financial crisis due to the cold of land transactions. The case also reached the Kerala High Court, which expressed dissatisfaction over a long delay. Nevertheless, the project failed to take off.
Jijo Panachinani, Secretary, Action Council, says the damage caused by expired acquisition notices has been deep and individual. “More than 5,000 families were affected. Information is gone, but the results remain,” they say.
“People could not host or sell their holdings. Some families broke the partition disputes. Many were forced to turn to private lenders when banks refused their land as collateral.”
Most of the delays arising out of disagreement between the Union and the state governments more than funding. In 2015, the Congress -led United Democratic Front Sarkar agreed to share the cost of the project and signed an MoU with the Railways.
After withdrawing from the MoU in 2016, India’s Communist Party (Marxist) left the Democratic Front government, agreed to add it again in 2021. However, it insisted that the state share of the cost of the project is excluded from its borrowed limit. It is not clear whether the issue has been resolved.
Pala’s lawyer R. For Manoj, the plight of the affected families became an individual mission. In 2007, he visited every local body with alignment, urged him to pass a resolution in support of the project.
“But then punished political quarrels started,” they say. “Suddenly, there were objections on alignment through Pala and Poonar. The people started as a movement that started in politics and lost its steam.”
Near Pala, 69 -year -old Tommy Thumpilicunel, a 69 -year -old activist from Chondakari, led a hunger strike, which lasted for nearly four years from 2011. Like many others, it also faded in silence.
“Our opposition was against the cutting line through our land,” they say. “Now, even with the talk of revival of the project, no one cares about it.”
The chairperson of the Action Committee, Dijo Cuppen, believes that the line can revolutionize rail connectivity in Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam districts. With the proposed 14 new stations, it can bring pilgrims to Sabarimala and provide rail connectivity at the proposed Sabarimala Airport, connecting remote areas with a comprehensive economy.
“In any case, the project offers far more possible options for the Chenganur -Pampa rail route, which is much more expensive and designed to serve the Sabarimala pilgrims completely,” he said.
Cuppen also states that the expansion of the line up to Balrampuram in Thiruvananthapuram will construct an alternative rail corridor for the state capital. Kerala has also noted to connect the Sabari line with Thiruvananthapuram and Vizinjam port.
The government has asked the collectors of Ernakulam, Idukki and Kottayam to resume land acquisition for the project. Government orders are expected to be done soon to get land.
Back to Kochi, Vishwanathan Nair now lives with her daughter Sharika. “My house in Okel became uninhabited. I had to close my shop, the only source of my income, and move here,” he says slowly. “Someday, the project will move forward and I will get justice.” His voice collapses, but hope shines in his eyes.
And this wait continues for thousands of others like him, caught in the same silence, took the same unanswered questions.
