Plea to set up more offices for metro project

KOCHI: The Kerala Land Revenue Association has expressed serious concerns over the lack of adequate offices to monitor the land acquisition procedures for the Metro Rail Project. They have demanded the setting up of two more offices in Aluva taluk and Kanayannur taluk.The office at Vyttila, LA NH No 3, which is monitoring the activities of land acquisition is already over-burdened, said Sathyapalan, district secretary, Kerala Land Revenue Association.  “For the 25 km-long Metro Rail project, the government would have to acquire 25 acres of land. The remaining seven acres of land is unregistered. It is not east to carry out this task with a less number of employees,” he said.“Currently, the office at Vyttila has only 14 employees. They are already dealing with works like acquiring lands for NH-49, works related to Tripunithura bypass and also with court cases in connection with NH-17.“We need 2 units under Deputy Collector, special tahsildars, junior superintendents (2), valuation assistants (4), revenue inspector (6), UD and LD clerk (12), village assistants(4), surveyors(6), valuation assistants( 4), revenue inspectors (6), office peon (2), drivers (2), These are our demands, Sathyapal said. An office named ‘Metro Rail Corporation Office’ under an IAS officer has been sanctioned in Revenue Tower near the Corporation Office. But it is yet to function. As this is a very big project, the employees are not enough to carry out the work.