K-Rail calls top SilverLine opponents for the first ever technical debate on semi high speed project

For the first time, Kerala government has decided to officially listen to dissenting voices in the SilverLine issue.

Three noted SilverLine opponents - former Indian Railways Service officer Alok Kumar Verma who was also the lead consultant of the SilverLine preliminary feasibility study, environmental scientist R V G Menon and IT expert and social commentator Joseph C Mathew - have been invited to the first ever debate on the technical aspects of SilverLine. The debate will be organised by Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd (K-Rail) in Thiruvananthapuram on April 28. Sources said all three had accepted the invite.

To achieve balance, the debate will also witness the participation of three proponents of the project. Railway Board former member Subodh Jain, Digital University vice chancellor Saji Gopinath and the president of Thiruvananthapuram Chamber of Commerce and Industry, N S Raghuchandran Nair

Each speaker will have 10 minutes to present his case. Alok Verma will open the debate followed by Subodh Jain. Each speaker will be followed by a speaker on the opposing side. Science and Technology principal secretary K P Sudhir will be moderator.

After the six speakers have made their 10-minute remarks, like in American presidential debates, the moderator will put questions to each of the speakers. This question and answer session is scheduled for 30 minutes. In all, the debate is expected to last 100 minutes.

Alok Verma, the most vocal critic of the project, had arrived in Kerala on April 20 and had been holding discussions with environmentalists and politicians, including opposition leader V D Satheesan. Verma, however, was not able to meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and chief secretary V P Joy.

Verma has raised serious doubts about the use of standard gauge technology. He was the lead consultant of a team of experts formed by the general consultant of the project, France-based Systra, to draw up the preliminary feasibility report. The team had cautioned K-Rail against the use of standard gauge.

Verma alleged that the final report was prepared without the mandatory ground surveys and ridership analysis. He had also said that K-Rail had used inaccurate topographic data of Google Earth to draw up the SilverLine alignment.

R V G Menon, on his part, had argued that Kerala was making use of a technology that Japan had no use of and was keen to dump on developing nations. He said the relatively low interest of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) funds was nothing but a ruse to prod Kerala into accepting old standard gauge technology.