Hitting out at the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s contentious K-Rail project, Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan, has said that the entire state would be the victim of the project, not just those who would lose their property for it. In an interaction with national mediapersons at his official residence in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, April 5, the senior Congress leader accused the ruling CPI(M) of swinging politics, claiming that advocating for projects like the K-Rail is a shift to an “extreme right” ideology. The Congress MLA from Paravur in Ernakulam has emerged as one of the fiercest voices against the K-Rail (SilverLine) project from the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF). Notably, the Union government is yet to give its nod for the project.
Satheesan reiterated his claim that data has been fudged for the project. “It took only two months for the primary feasibility report to become the final feasibility report. In the final report, the ridership increased from 46,000 to 80,000. No geological or geo-technical study has been done. There has been no estimate on how much natural resources would be required for the project in a place like Kerala which is already a vulnerable area,” Satheesan said. “The project would be the Waterloo moment for Kerala’s CPI(M),” he added, in reference to the famous battle lost by French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte.
The SilverLine project is a semi-high speed railway corridor, implemented by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail), which proposes to reduce the traveling time between the northern district of Kasaragod to the southern district of Thiruvananthapuram to four hours from the current 12 hours.
Satheesan also alleged that the government, in the Budget for the fiscal year presented on March 11, raised the loan limit, with the state as the sovereign guarantor, to enable it to borrow more for the project. The opposition leader asked if any of the ministers in the state cabinet know the details of the giant infrastructure project. “The entire state is the victim of the project, not only those who would lose their property for it. It’s a predatory project. People whom I have met told me that they would need to spend a handsome amount for an auto rickshaw to reach the main road in their areas if K-Rail is implemented,” he said.
Despite Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan staunchly defending the project, it has been opposed for the ecological and social impact and also for the huge debt the state needs to incur for it. The proposed cost of the project is Rs 64,000 crore.
The Chief Minister had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March seeking necessary intervention for the project and claimed that the response was favourable.
Satheesan said that the Congress won’t fight against the project with the BJP. “What Pinarayi said that Modi’s body language during the meeting was favourable. Then what V Muraleedharan (Union Minister of State) can do is to convince the PM to change his body language (not to give approval) rather than staging protests in the state,” Satheesan said.
Watch video of the people who oppose the project