Tension prevailed at Nooranad in Alappuzha when protesters tried to block officials of the Revenue Department and the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail) who came to measure water level in the Karingali puncha on Wednesday.
The officials who reached the place with police protection in the morning were met with strong protests. The agitators demanded a change in the alignment of the SilverLine project, a semi-high-speed rail project to link Kasaragod in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south, by avoiding wetland and paddy fields in the area.
The protesters clashed with the police after they tried to prevent the officials from carrying out the inspection. The police arrested a number of the agitators but who were later released on bail. Despite the protests, the officials were able to complete the job.
Residents in a number of grama panchayats in Mavelikara and Chengannur taluks have recently formed action councils and launched agitations against the SilverLine project.
