 "Kerala CM rejects 'propaganda', says Silver Line will not partition state")
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday rejected the opposition campaign that the construction of embankment for his government's flagship Silver Line rail corridor project would partition the southern state into two, saying the propaganda was just "exaggeration" and "factually incorrect".
The embankment, to be raised for 292.73 kilometers of the total 532 kilometer-rail corridor, would help maintain proper alignment of tracks and prevent water from entering there and it has been an existing practice by the Railways across the country, he told the state Assembly. The Chief Minister was replying to a series of questions raised by the ruling and opposition members in the House regarding the multi-crore project. Embankments, upto 17 meter height, already existed in Kerala as part of various railway tracks and the majority of such constructions as part of the upcoming Silver Line project would be below five meter, he said. "The height of the 74 kilometer stretch of embankment will be between five and eight meters. The propaganda that the construction of embankments will divide the state into two is just exaggeration and factually incorrect," Vijayan said as a reply to a question by Shafi Parambil (Congress). He also assured the House that a sufficient number of underpasses and culverts would be constructed as part of the project, helping the local people to cross the tracks and ensuring the natural flow of water in the area. Though he did not give a clear answer for the question on how many tones of natural resources would be required for the construction of the embankments, he said a comparatively minimum amount of such resources may be used for the mammoth work, envisaged to be built under the green protocol. Asked whether the embankments would aggravate the natural disasters in the state, Vijayan said the construction would be completely taking into consideration the environmental priorities and special arrangements would be made to avoid such catastrophes.
The Left government's ambitious SilverLine project, which is expected to reduce travel time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod to around four hours, is being opposed by the opposition Congress-led UDF, which has been alleging that it was unscientific and impractical and will put a huge financial burden on the state. The 540 kilometre 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 southern state. Starting from the state capital, SilverLine trains will have stoppages at Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode and Kannur before reaching Kasaragod.