The Left-leaning Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) appeared to have politically advantaged the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition by publishing a study highly critical of the government’s push to construct a semi-high-speed railway (Silverline) spanning the length of the State.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran has seized on the study to assail the government for implementing a mass rapid transport system that he suggested was “pro-wealthy, socially disruptive, and environmentally and economically untenable”.
The UDF was at the forefront of a strident campaign against the contentious laying of Silverline alignment markers on private properties across the State. It said the KSSP had vindicated its struggle against the government by reportedly opining that the trespass on private holdings to lay the concrete pillars was patently undemocratic.
Mr Sudhakaran said people across the spectrum opposed the project. The Centre rejected Silverline. Several environmental agencies raised red flags of caution, stating that the elevated and walled railway track would subsume ecologically fragile wetlands and impede natural drainage. The ₹64,000-crore scheme would push the State into the abyss of irredeemable debt.
