Committee condoles death of ‘key figure behind Moolampilly Rehabilitation Package’

The forceful eviction of 10 families from Moolampilly, in the idyllic village of Kadamakkudy, for the rail and road connectivity to the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) on February 6, 2008, marked a tumultuous episode during the tenure of former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan.

The affected families launched a protest the very next day at Menaka Junction, demanding rehabilitation and compensation. It continued until March 22, 2008, when the State government announced a rehabilitation package that has since come to be known as the ‘Moolampilly Rehabilitation Package’.

Hardly a fortnight after the eviction, on February 20, Mr. Achuthanandan made a hard-hitting statement, alleging that the Moolampilly protest had been infiltrated by ‘Maoist elements’. The next day, the late jurist V.R. Krishna Iyer, who had been at the forefront of the protest for the rights of the evictees, held a press conference at the protest pandhal, taking issue with the Chief Minister’s statement.

Mr. Achuthanandan was in Kochi that weekend to attend three different programmes. He dropped in at Mr. Iyer’s house and expressed regret for his statement, clarifying that he had been misled by bureaucrats. “V.S.’ greatness was in accepting the mistake and expressing regret,” said Francis Kalathungal, general convener, Moolampilly Rehabilitation Package Coordination Committee.

Mr. Achuthanandan went further and undertook additional course correction when his government declared the rehabilitation package. A Cabinet subcommittee comprising then Ministers for Revenue, Law, and Registration—K.P. Rajendran, M. Vijayakumar, and S. Sarma, respectively—formulated the package after holding consultations with MLAs, political party representatives, and affected families. The package was notified by then Revenue Principal Secretary Nivedita P. Haran on March 19, 2008, following which the affected families called off their protest three days later.

The statement issued by the coordination committee condoling his death on Monday (July 21, 2025) credited the late former Chief Minister as the key figure behind the package. That the package remains only partially implemented 17 years later, however, continues to be a sore point.

As many as 316 families were evicted from the villages of Mulavukad, Moolampilly, Kothad, Cheranalloor, Eloor, Manjummal, Vaduthala, Elamakkara, and Ponekkara for rail and road connectivity to the ICTT.