By Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Having drawn flak earlier for not discussing its formidable SilverLine semi high-speed railway undertaking within the meeting, the state authorities on Monday sought to catch the Opposition off guard, conceding to its demand for a debate by halting the proceedings of the House.
However, the Opposition cornered the federal government alleging knowledge fudging in DPR, a cost that went unaddressed within the chief minister’s reply. Unscathed by the criticism, Pinarayi Vijayan reasserted his authorities’s resolve to go forward with the undertaking.
It was the primary occasion within the tenure of the second Pinarayi authorities that it agreed to debate an adjournment m0tion within the meeting. The authorities had earlier declined the same movement on the identical matter final October. The u-turn got here amid protests in several elements of the state over laying of survey stones, which frequently turned violent.
UDF MLAs, starting with P C Vishnunadh who moved the movement, raised considerations over monetary viability, ecological harm and technical feasibility. They raised doubts about rehabilitation of the affected folks and attacked the police for its high-handedness in coping with the protestors. The undeniable fact that the federal government agreed to a dialogue was termed climbdown.
‘Entire population will be victim of SilverLine’
“The total inhabitants within the state goes to be the sufferer of SilverLine, not simply those that lose land for it. It will destroy the state ecologically, financially and socially. Those who can not handle KSRTC have give you tasks like SilverLine. It will probably be an enormous burden on us.
There must be an open dialogue on it,” stated Opposition Leader V D Satheesan. On the safety fences alongside the proposed railway observe, he alleged that the undertaking will divide the state into two. He stated the undertaking value would run as much as Rs 2 lakh crore upon completion.
Quoting liberally from the detailed undertaking report, Pinarayi dismissed the Opposition’s allegations. “By exaggerating the debt burden, the Opposition is making an attempt to disclaim the posterity a vital improvement undertaking. There is nothing uncommon about taking loans for such mega tasks.
We are getting loans for 0.2 to 1.5 per cent topic to alternate price worth, with a compensation interval of 40 years. Our imaginative and prescient is that the state’s economic system will develop in these years with the assistance of such improvement tasks. The opposition raises baseless allegations as a result of they don’t have the imaginative and prescient,” he stated Pinarayi.
