Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has portrayed his high-profile meeting in New Delhi with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek the Centre's clearance for the SilverLine semi-high-speed railway project as productive.
Speaking to reporters at Kerala House on Thursday, Mr. Vijayan said: "The Prime Minister listened intently. His response was healthy. We discussed the project in detail. Mr. Modi was kind enough to set apart a significant amount of his time for Kerala. At one point, I felt I had overstayed. Mr. Modi exuded enthusiasm and positiveness. SilverLine dovetailed with the Centre's national railway plan. The Prime Minister said he would consider Kerala's requirement positively. I believe Mr. Modi's intervention will put SilverLine on the fast track."
Mr. Vijayan also met Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnav. “I told him informally about my meeting with the Prime Minister.”
The Chief Minister pointedly used his press conference in New Delhi to slam the Opposition for "derailing" Kerala's development. He blamed a section of the media for giving outsize coverage to the Opposition's disinformation campaign.
The anti-SilverLine agitation had no traction in Kerala. It was the creation of a "vicious cabal" hell-bent on subverting the State's development to vent its spite against the Left Democratic Front government. Conspirators of all hues were part of the plot. The government would remain undeterred. It had the mandate to implement SilverLine, he said.
Kerala had implemented the GAIL pipeline and National Highway (NH) development projects in the face of stiff opposition. "Those who initially opposed later realised the plotters had misled them. The same will happen in the case of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail) project," he said.
Mr. Vijayan said Kerala had to pay a heavy price for the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s failure to acquire land for NH development on time. “Finally, Kerala had to pay 25% of the land cost. Had the government acquired the land in time, the NH authority would have paid the total compensation. The LDF would not allow a similar fate to befall K-Rail,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan defended K-Rail as a future-ready mass rapid transport system that was environment-friendly, financially viable and a catalyst for economic development. The government would duly compensate displaced families.
There was no freeze on transacting land demarcated by K-Rail markers. The markers were precursors of a social impact study to finalise the track's alignment. Moreover, the government would not acquire the land specified as buffer zone by K-Rail. The setback would remain in possession of the original owners. Hence, there was no question of paying them compensation, he said.
The Chief Minister said SilverLine bypassed ecologically fragile localities and did not require the Centre's environmental clearance. He updated the media on the progress of the national waterways project.
