The Kerala state government decided to redeploy the Revenue Department officials deputed for the social impact assessment (SIA) study of land acquisition works of the ambitious SilverLine rail project of Kerala. In an order issued on Saturday, the state revenue department said the staff with SIA units should be redeployed with other essential projects.
The Union Government is yet to approve Kerala’s proposed semi-high-speed rail corridor or K-Rail. And the opposition has protested the project since its announcement.
What is the SilverLine project?
The SilverLine project would cover a 530-kilometre stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod and be developed by K-Rail, a joint venture of the Kerala government and the Ministry of Railways. The semi-high-speed rail line would have 11 stations at an estimated cost of around Rs. 64,000 crores.
The project aims to ease transportation along the entire north-south of Kerala and reduce the travel time to less than four hours as against 12 14 hours.
The deadline for the project, being executed by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), is 2025.
The project is a joint collaboration between the Kerala government and the Union Ministry of Railways created to execute big railway projects.
The Left government is going forward with the SilverLine project which it had promised to the people in its election manifesto despite opposition and the CPI(M) and the government has said that the worries of those who may be affected would be heard.
What is the politics of the project?
The project has faced protests from the opposition since early this year. The Congress and the BJP in March protested the Left government’s project by uprooting the survey stones for the K-Rail at various places while Union Minister V Muraleedharan visited the areas where people have been agitating.
The project has also been protested by the local people in some parts of the State.
On the day when Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra, the Railway Minister had told Parliament that "the project, which has been presented now is an ecological disaster."
"This morning, I met many people here in Thiruvananthapuram. Many of these houses are newly constructed by people putting all their money that they have earned in their whole life. Suddenly, when they are asked to leave the place or vacate the house, they have nowhere to go," Muraleedharan told reporters in March.
A petition signed by 17 Opposition MPs from the state said the project was an “astronomical scam in the making” and would sink the state further into debt. The petition addressed to the Union Railways Minister, said the project was financially unviable and would lead to the displacement of over 30,000 families.
Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan said the SilverLine project was full of confusion.
"Who is laying survey stones for the Silverline project in Kerala? There is confusion and mystery behind the survey stone-laying for K-Rail. Earlier, Minister Saji Cheriyan said there was no buffer zone. But K-Rail MD said there is and the Chief Minister also agreed. The Chief Minister says the total expense for the project was Rs 64,000 crore but CPI(M) chief Kodiyeri Balakrishnan says it will be around Rs 80,000 crore," Satheesan said.
The Congress leader said there was no need to lay stones for the social impact study of the project and by laying the survey stones, the government is trying to acquire land.
Former Minister and senior CPI(M) leader M M Mani ridiculed the Congress party for their protest against the K-Rail project and the uprooting of survey stones.
Current status of the project
The process of the land acquisition began as early as June 2021, after the state cabinet’s approval of the same. Out of 1,383 hectares needed to be acquired, 1,198 hectares will be private land.
According to media reports, the Cabinet has also approved administrative sanction to get Rs 2,100 crore from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), the central investment arm of the government.
Further, urban planners in the state have argued that the current railway network of the state is not too advanced where trains run at an average speed of 45km/h. It creates a lot of traffic with trains running through bends and curves.
The SilverLine project would ease the traffic of the state more after coming into effect.
(with PTI inputs)
