Thiruvananthapuram: Notwithstanding the adverse stand taken by the central government over the silver line project, the state government is not ready for a confrontation on the issue.
For the time being the state government will heed the railway ministry's advice that it would be proper to keep land acquisition on hold. The government had opened offices in districts and sanctioned funds for land acquisition activities. Under the new circumstances, these employees will now be deployed for social impact study and for laying the stones.
The union railway minister had informed the parliament that the impact of the project on the people would be known only after a detailed study.
K-Rail considers the railway ministry’s stand as a green signal to go ahead with the social impact study. The government believes that despite all the adverse arguments being raised, the railway ministry would not be able to dump the silver line project which is being implemented by K-Rail, in which it also has 49 per cent stakes.
The government believes that the railway ministry informed the court about its stand that land acquisition should be kept in abeyance for the time being, yielding to the pressure off the state unit of BJP.
The Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared for Kannur-Thiruvananthapuram high-speed rail in 2016 included a 145 km track through the mainland. It was 33.72 per cent of the 430 km project. The DPR was prepared by the DMCRC under Metro Man E Sreedharan.
However, Sreedharan has now raised the argument against the silver line project saying that a new railway line in Kerala is possible either underground or on an elevated path. The alignment of the Kasargod-Thiruvananthapuram railway line is 78.76 per cent on the mainland.