Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has slammed the government for misleading the people about the economic and environmental viability of the K-Rail (SilverLine) semi-high-speed railway project.
Participating in the discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address on Wednesday, Mr. Chennithala said the Centre had merely given the green signal for a pre-investment evaluation of the scheme. It only allowed the State to conduct soil surveys, form an environmental management plan, create a cell for land acquisition, and prepare the scheme for resettlement and rehabilitation of citizens who could lose their homes, property, and businesses to the mega infrastructure project.
No acquisition rights
The Centre had not granted any right to the State to forge ahead with land acquisition or place markers to demarcate SilverLine's alignment. The government had misled the Kerala High Court in the matter.
The Revenue department had issued a slew of orders to acquire land. It had unlawfully cancelled the survey numbers of the land the K-Rail wanted to develop for the project. The government was clueless about the procedure for availing itself of foreign funding for the scheme. A government Secretary infamous for contracting foreign consultancies was helming the process. Mr. Chennithala produced a series of files on the table to prove his accusations.
Book released
At a public function here on the day, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said no one would lose out on account of SilverLine. "The government will not implement the project by steeping people in misery or making them drink their tears," he said. Mr. Balakrishnan was speaking at the release of a book titled The Need for K-Rail, authored by CPI(M) leader and former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac.
