Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have joined hands to oppose the semi-high-speed SilverLine project of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail).
At a public meeting held at Panoor in Kannur district on Monday, Mr. Vijayan said people wholeheartedly supported the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s development initiative in the State. But the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP were blindly protesting against the project for political reasons.
The Chief Minister said the SilveLine project would bring huge development to the State. The BJP and the Congress were well aware of that and hence were worried about their political future, he added.
Mr. Vijayan said the government had already looked into the concerns of people losing their land. They would be paid four-fold compensation, he said.
The project has been envisaged keeping in mind the needs of the future generation. The government would campaign at the grassroots level to clear doubts regarding the project, he added.
‘Anti-Left collective’
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that an anti-Left collective is stoking the protest against the SilverLine project in Changanassery.
He told the media here on Monday that the presence of Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and a community leader at the protest site at Madappally in Changanassery revealed that the anti-Left forces had orchestrated the agitation.
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau member also asked the Congress and the BJP to take on the LDF government politically rather than using the SilverLine project as a cover to protest. “Just because the survey stones are removed, the project will not be cancelled,” he added.
Mr. Balakrishnan said the State government was committed to implementing the SilverLine project with the support of the people. The landowners were replanting survey stones uprooted by the protestors. They were certain that they would get a fair compensation for parting with their property, he said.
Citing the rail projects that are under way in eight States, he said the Congress and the BJP were protesting against the projects only in Kerala. “These protests against K-Rail are carefully planned. No wonder women and children are brought to the protest sites. The Congress wants to foment trouble. But the police have no intention to hurt them,” said Mr. Balakrishnan.
