The Kerala Govt is ruining lives, incomes and ecology in the name of development

The legal maxim ‘Audi Alteram Partem’ is a universally accepted doctrine in judicial parlance in all civil societies. The Latin phrase means ‘hear the other side’ or ‘nobody shall be condemned unheard’. This maxim is used to signify the principle of natural justice. Though dictatorial, autocratic and communist regimes across the world do not subscribe to the maxim, India does not belong to that category of nations. The authorities are bound to listen to the version of the poor person who is likely to be affected by the move of powers that be. The 530-km Silver Line Semi High Speed Rail that links Thiruvananthapuram with Kasaragod in less than four hours has become a major controversy in the State. The project costing Rs 64,000 crore would displace 30,000 people from their houses and farmlands. A majority of people who stand to lose their farmlands and houses are small and medium farmers who own less than one acre of land. No alternative land has been allotted/offered to those who would be thrown out of their houses once the Government takes over their land.

Though Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has declared that those who lose their lands would be offered three times the price of the acquired land, it is going to be of no help to the poor farmers. In a State which is hard-pressed for land because of its small size and heavy population density, these unlucky ones would not get the piece of farmland which could sustain their lives. No purpose will be served if they are compensated with arid or semi-arid land. Same is the case with those whose houses would be acquired for laying tracks. They will never be able to buy plots and construct the house of their dreams with the Government’s compensation package. The tragedy with this ill-conceived mega project is that no social impact survey has been held by the authorities before launching it. The CPI(M) that staged all-India demonstrations against the Ahmedabad-Gujarat Bullet Train Project under the garb of displacement of poor farmers and ecological disaster has made a volte-face and has started pontificating about development. Environmental scientists warn that the destruction of wetlands as part of the rail line would make the State poorer by a mindboggling Rs 28 lakh crore. Vijayan and his party leaders should bear in mind that Kerala is not an Animal Farm.