An overwhelming 75.29% of the people surveyed are opposed to the ₹63,941-cr. SilverLine semi-high speed rail corridor project in Kerala, while 20.41% are for the project, as per a 10-day survey conducted across Kerala from January 19.
Another 4.3% of the 13,704 people who were surveyed, preferred to remain neutral on the project that has been mooted to reduce travel time between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod to about four hours. Even as 76% people said the existing rail service ought to be improved and another 75% said the speed of existing trains should be increased, 68% said SilverLine will not be a viable alternative. On the contrary, 23% opined that SilverLine would provide a better service for rail commuters, while 24% said the project would help save on travelling time.
Opponents of the project said the project would adversely affect the environment, increase the cost of commuting and result in Kerala being pushed into a debt trap, in the survey organised by Greens Movement Kerala, an NGO, and carried out by Edupress, a consultancy firm which also does social survey. Prior to the survey, both the forums had said that it will be done in an objective manner. The widely-accepted stratified random sampling method was adopted, while volunteers were selected and trained for the purpose from all districts.
The online survey was done in all districts and among NRKs, involving mostly graduates (36% of those surveyed), postgraduates (23%) and technically-qualified people (14%). Forty per cent of those surveyed were from the middle-age group. The number of people overall who are for and against the project was much the same in all districts. Likewise, there was no marked variance in the opinion of men and women about the project. Sixty-nine per cent of those who were surveyed had travelled on the Thiruvanathapuram-Kasaragod rail corridor at least once.
The questionnaire was prepared with the help of experts and a sample survey conducted on social media. The questions were simplified following this and included in an app. A total of over 160 volunteers relied on their contacts from all districts to get the survey results.
Women constituted 44.91% (6,155 people) of those surveyed and men comprised 54.52 % (7,472), while 77 persons were from other other groups.
A total of 13.68 % people were from the low-income group, 81.28 % from middle-income group and 5.04 % from the high-income group. Among them, 11.70% were government officials, 32.60% employed in the private sector, 19.80% pensioners, 8.30% daily wage earners, 5.10% students, 7.40% unemployed, 9.50% entrepreneurs and another 5.60% who were into social work. The following is the percentage of people surveyed in each district – Thiruvananthapuram 15.76 %, Kollam 8.50 %, Pathanamthitta 4 %, Kottayam 9.61 %, Alappuzha 6.01 %, Idukki 2.32 %, Ernakulam 12.33 %, Thrissur 9.08 %, Palakkad 3.74 %, Malappuram 6.47 %, Kozhikode 12.80 %, Wayanad 0.99 %, Kannur 6.73 %, and Kasaragod 2.79 %.
A total of 39.08% people were from the 31-50 age group, 26.76 % from the 50-60 age group, 22.10% were above 60 years, 10.43% from 21-30 age group and 2.04% from 13-20 age group.
