The United Democratic Front (UDF) has urged the government to convene a special session of the Assembly to discuss the SilverLine.
Briefing reporters after a leadership conclave here, UDF convener M.M. Hassan said the Opposition would set up permanent protest centres in 11 districts through which the proposed semi high-speed railway traversed.
The hubs would emerge as epicentres of anti-government struggle. The Opposition would muster local support against the project. It would highlight the plight of families left in the lurch by the project.
Uprooting markers
Mr. Hassan said UDF workers would uproot SilverLine markers and resist the demarcation of the elevated railway embankment’s alignment.
Mr. Hassan said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had held the Assembly in contempt by keeping the House in the dark about the environmental, economic and social impact of the project.
Instead, he had chosen to unveil cherry-picked and sanitised parts of the scheme to a set of corporate yes-men. Mr. Vijayan seemed afraid to face the Opposition in the Assembly.
Mr. Hassan said Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode and Kannur would emerge as hotspots of the UDF’s anti-SilverLine protest.
Public meetings
The UDF would hold public meetings across the State to counter the government’s pro-SilverLine propaganda. The UDF has arrayed a large group of environmentalists, climate scientists, railway experts, intellectuals, social media influencers and writers to oppose the project.
Mr. Hassan noted that the pro-CPI(M) think-tank Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) had opposed SilverLine. Some KSSP activists would also join ranks with the UDF to counter the “quixotic” scheme.
The UDF was not against an effective and speedy mass rapid transport system. However, SilverLine was no solution. It was economically and environmentally untenable. He urged the government to shed its obstinacy and abandon the project.
Varsity protest
The UDF would hold protest marches in front of various varsities on January 14 to oppose the “unlawful interference” of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Higher Education Minister R. Bindu in university affairs.
