Thiruvananthapuram: Reiterating his stand on the ambitious SilverLine project, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told Assembly on Tuesday that the Kerala government has not abandoned the plans to build semi-high speed rail corridor. He said the Centre eventually would have to approve the project.

Vijayan said the SilverLine project was necessary for the state's development. "What the state needs is a high- or semi-high speed rail. And according to experts, such trains cannot run on the existing tracks," he said.

Vijayan said that the state government had gone ahead with various surveys and a social impact assessment (SIA) study after receiving an in-principle approval for the project. "Initially, the Centre had indicated that it would green-light the semi-high speed rail corridor.

However, the Centre was hesitating now due to the interference of certain people," the chief minister said.

"The project will have to be approved by the Centre. They will have to. If not now, surely in the future. Therefore, the state government has not abandoned the project," Vijayan said.

At the same time, he also conceded that without the Centre's approval, the state can not go ahead with the project.

He was responding to the Congress-led UDF opposition's queries in the assembly regarding the cases registered against those who opposed the laying of survey stones. The opposition wanted know whether the state would withdraw the cases now that the project has not received any approval from the Centre.

The opposition also alleged that false cases were lodged against agitators. 

Vijayan rejected the demands to withdraw criminal cases. He said action was not taken against those opposing the project, but against those who disrupted law and order, and destroyed public property.

Therefore, the state government was not considering withdrawing criminal cases against such persons, he said.

Opposition UDF has opposed the Kerala government's ambitious SilverLine project, which is expected to reduce travel time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod to around four hours, alleging that it was "unscientific and impractical". They claim it would put a huge financial burden on the state.

The proposed 530-km stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod would be developed by K-Rail, a joint venture of the Kerala government and the Railway Ministry for developing railway infrastructure in the state.

Starting from the state capital, SilverLine trains will have stoppages at Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode and Kannur before reaching Kasaragod.

(With PTI inputs)