With the state government and Congress-led opposition sharpening their position on proposed high speed rail project ‘K Rail’, Kerala is set to witness campaigns for and against the project in coming days.
After the ruling Left Democratic Front announced a door-to-door campaign to spread awareness on the project, opposition United Democratic Front has decided to mount a similar drive against the project in coming days.
The government’s ambitious project is facing rough weather in the face of protests from opposition parties. The ₹63,940 crore project seeks to develop a high-speed rail corridor connecting Kasaragod in the state’s north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. The state needs 1,383 hectares of land for the proposed project, of which 1,383 hectares are private land. The central government is yet to approve the project.
Opposition leaders draw a parallel between Kerala’s project and the land acquisition drive in West Bengal’s Nandigram region which culminated in violent clashes between farmers and security personnel in 2011.
The state government on the other hand is putting its weight behind the project. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has launched a social media campaign for the project. According to officials who are familiar with development, he will meet people in all 14 districts of the state to dispel their fears surrounding the corridor. The CM will also interact with business, social, cultural and religious leaders across the state, said the party.
“All are teamed up against the government and some of them even threatened that it will be another Nandigram. They can’t browbeat us and we are least bothered. The project was there in the LDF manifesto and people gave us a resounding verdict in April assembly elections,” said CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
He reiterated his charge that Congress, BJP, Jamat-e-Islami and other outfits have ganged up against the government. “We have information that some of these forces are also planning unrest in the name of the project. But we will go ahead with this,” he said in Pathanamthitta on Wednesday.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan ridiculed the CPI(M) saying it opposed the bullet train project (Ahmedabad-Mumbai) and passed a resolution saying it was meant for the high-income groups and now the party bats for high speed rail “which will displace thousands of families and damage fragile ecology of the state”.
“The party’s double standard is exposed. No serious environment or social impact study was done. Is this dialectical materialism?” he asked.
He said the opposition will strengthen its protest in the coming days.
The proposed rail line will bring down the travel time between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram, covering 529.45 km, from 12 hours to four hours. It will be completed by 2025, said Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL), the nodal agency for the project.
“Initial work for the project is progressing. We have started land marking and acquisition. Our target is March 2025 and there can be some cost escalation but it is manageable,” said Ajith Kumar, MD of the KRDCL.
Besides opposition parties, environmental activists are also opposing the project saying it will displace more than 20,000 families and destroy wetlands. “The project will be a disaster for the state. The government conceived the idea when weather experts warned the state will face recurring calamities due to climate change,” said environmental activist C R Neelakandan.
