Kerala - Kochi   

A day of mourning for them

KOCHI: For those staging an indefinite satyagraha for the past three weeks near the venue of Friday’s function to lay the foundation stone for the Smart City project, it is a protest which they say is to safeguard their rights.

Even as a huge stage for the function came up on 2.4 hectares of land acquired from them at Edachira, they sat and watched it from their satyagraha pandal. There are 52 families claiming ownership to the property.

They have decided to observe a day of mourning on Friday. “We have been asked not to enter our own land,” Saujith, a protesting landowner, said. “What we are asking is either to spare our land or to provide alternative land in the vicinity,” Sainabha, another protester, said.

District Collector A.P.M. Mohammed had said that a decision on the issue would be reached after discussions with Fisheries Minister S. Sarma, who is the Chairman of Smart City.

A meeting of office-bearers of the District Congress Committee (DCC) urged the State government to protect the interests of the State while implementing the Smart City project.

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