CPI(M) acting State secretary A. Vijayaraghavan has said the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala have cast themselves in the role of anti-development retrogrades by blindly opposing the State’s semi high-speed Silverline railway project.
Speaking at a meet-the-press organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club on the occasion of the LDF completing six months in power on Wednesday, Mr. Vijayaraghavan said the Opposition parties were trying to retard the State’s progress.
The Silverline was a greenfield project that would drastically reduce the travel time between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod to less than four hours. It would decongest roads, open up the State’s verdant hinterlands for development and reduce Kerala’s carbon footprint.
The LDF had moved ahead with acquiring land for the Silverline. The Government would adequately and quickly compensate those displaced by the project. Those who stirred resistance against laying down the GAIL pipeline and six laning of the National Highway had failed. People were happy to make sacrifices for development, he said. Kerala was already years behind other regions in essential infrastructure development. It was required to keep pace with the world. The Silverline would soon become a reality. Press club president M. Radhakrishnan and secretary Rajesh Rajendran were present.
