Article found at: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=A+never-ending+nightmare&artid=WgTfcawHlck=&SectionID=9R67TMeNb/w=&MainSectionID=9R67TMeNb/w=&SEO=High+Court&SectionName=gUhH3Holuas= A never-ending nightmare Navamy Sudhish First Published : 06 Feb 2009 11:26:00 PM IST Last Updated : 06 Feb 2009 01:52:55 PM IST She can see the JCB levelling the land where her house once stood. Agnes Antony still has to come to terms with the fact that she is homeless. “It took us 20 years to complete our house, the land was given by my father. And all of a sudden we are like refugees. It is not alms that we want, this land belongs to us,” she says, her voice almost drowned by the roar of the huge machine. As Friday marks the first anniversary of the forced eviction at Moolampilly for the Vallarpadam rail project, 10 families who refused to accept title deeds for new land, are living a nightmare, fighting all odds. “We did not collect the pattayam. Why should we? The land earmarked for us is mushy. It was set up by levelling paddy fields and ponds. There is no road connectivity, electricity or water. What will we do there with a piece of land?” asks Jasmine who lives in a small shack with her husband and sons. “If they could bulldoze our homes in a single day why can’t they put pipelines? Isn’t it the duty of the government to give us water and electricity?” asks Celastine, one of the evictees. “At first they said it would take two or three months to complete the work. But when we asked for a written agreement from the Collector she refused,” he adds. Those families who cannot afford the luxury of a rented house live in unprotected shacks with their belongings piled up inside. “Now the authorities have even stopped giving us money to pay the rent, disregarding the ruling of the High Court. After December we haven’t received anything,” claims Celastine. “Now they say it will take three years to complete the road and only after that we will get the facilities. Where will we live with our children and elders all these years?” asks Jasmine. Many of the evictees are still reeling under the emotional trauma. Subhadra lost her husband Parmeswaran during the eviction procedures. “He was upset from the day they asked us to leave and kept on asking me ‘where will we go’. It was the stress and desperation that killed him. One month after his death we were forcefully evicted. Seeing the police swarming over the place I fainted.” “They tried to take my thumb impression while I was unconscious,” says Subhadra. According to Celastine, at least three people have lost their lives due to the trauma caused by eviction. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- <http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEX20080204204441&Title=Kochi&rLink=0> KOCHI: Eviction for the Vallarpadom Road project has become a nightmare for the people at Moolampilly. Ten families which have agreed to part with their land for the Vallarpadom Road project were evicted from Mollampilly on Monday. However, the Society of the evicted people of Moolampilly alleged that they were evicted without proper rehabilitation facilities. With the authorities planning to evict ten more families on Tuesday who haven`t given consent for land acquisition, there are strong protests from locals. There was tension at Moolampilly on Monday morning when the authorities came for eviction. However, the situation was tactically handled by the officials with a verbal agreement that rehabilitation facilities would be given. They haven`t given us any written agreement on rehabilitation. How can they evict us without that, asks Josy, a carpenter at Moolampilly. Suseela, special tahasildar (land acquisition) for ICTT Vallarpadom, who led the eviction procedures has asked the people to go and occupy an area of 28 cents of land near Vaduthala Jetty on their

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