Kottayam: K-Rail, the joint venture of union and state governments, has lost around 350 survey stones so far due to the protest against SilverLine semi high-speed rail corridor. The stones laid for the Social Impact Study were removed by the opposition parties and affected families.

Since most of these stones were thrown into rivers and ponds, the company will have to replace them. It estimates the total loss at Rs 18 lakh.

K-Rail says it has laid as many as 5,100 stones so far. The company has covered 144 km out of 530 km.

One stone costs around Rs 5,400. Though it is popularly called stones, they are long concrete structures. The price includes production costs, transportation, labour charge and other related costs. K-Rail hopes to reclaim the amount from the protestors as police have charged cases in most of the places where they were removed.

K-Rail snubbed the allegation that the company acquired contract for laying stones and has left abruptly. They said the said company had already left in November and another company was chosen in December which still works for the K-Rail.

As the protest continues, K-Rail has slowed down the pace of laying stones. Ministers and CPM district leaders are visiting houses to convince them about the importance of the project and the compensation.