The agitation against the 530-km Silver Line semi High Speed Rail Project of the Kerala Government took a new turn on Saturday morning. People whose lands and houses would be taken away to lay the rail tracks pulled out the survey stones installed in their plot of lands and threw them into nearby ponds and rivers much to the shock of the K-Rail authorities.
The agitation against the project reached its peak in the districts of Kozhikode, Malappuram, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Alappuzha as the Siilver Line Rail passes through the farmlands in these regions. The laying of survey stones came to a halt on Saturday as more than 7,000 private buses in the State remained off the roads which brought Kera to a grinding halt. Many Government offices in the districts had to function with skeleton staff as most employees could not make it to their places of work because of agitation by bus owners.
The last week saw police highhandedness against women and children who demonstrated and opposed the laying of survey stones as part of the proposed rail project. For the first time in the State, thousands of women, mainly home makers and farm labourers came out in the open questioning the propriety of laying survey stones without the permission or concurrence of the land owners.
In an embarrassment to the Government, the Revenue Department as well as the K-Rail (the holding company of Silver Line Rail) declared on Saturday that they have not authorised anybody to lay the survey stones. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan toned down his stance since his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and announced that the survey stones were being laid as part of the social impact analysis.
But E Sreedharan, former chairman, Delhi Metro, told reporters at Ponnani that there was no need to lay survey stones to conduct social impact analysis. “This is a ploy to acquire the land under the pretext of SIA, I have headed many projects in the past and from my experience I can tell that there is no need of laying survey stones for the SIA,” said E Sreedharan.
Sreedharan pointed out scientific studies which concluded that the soil structure of Kerala was not compatible or suitable for semi speed rail lines. “If they still want to go forward with the project, the Silver Line would lead to major mishaps in future,” he said.
The claim by Pinarayi Vijayan that the project would cost Rs 64,000 crore was corrected by the CPI(M) Kerala Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. “It is based on earlier estimation. Now it would cost Rs 86,000 crore,” said Balakrishnan while speaking to reporters.
The CPI(M) has launched a massive awareness programme all over Kerala to convince the people about the necessity of the Silver Line Rail. Trained youths belonging to the DYFI, the party’s youth wing are on a house to house campaign mission to convince the people about the benefits the project would bring to the State.
They call on all houses along the proposed Silver Line Route, distribute literature about the advantages of the project and also provide food packets for the needy.