By PTI
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Rail Development Corporation, on behalf of the state authorities, on Thursday organised a panel dialogue right here on the proposed SilverLine semi excessive velocity rail hall, offering a platform for expressing completely different views on the multi-crore undertaking, whilst its try to put survey stones triggered intense protest at Muzhappilangad in Kannur district.
The dialogue, with three panelists supporting the Left authorities’s formidable undertaking and one skilled opposing its implementation, was carried out at a lodge within the state capital amidst widespread criticism that the authorities weren’t lending an ear to the woes of widespread individuals and the views of the critics.
Kuncheria P Isaac, the previous vice chancellor of the Kerala Technical University, kick began the controversy strongly supporting the semi excessive velocity rail hall saying higher transportation amenities together with quicker trains and express-ways had been the need of the southern state.
He famous that most individuals selected to journey throughout odd hours by street to beat the site visitors, which was one of many causes for rising street mishaps within the state.
Though the Rs 64,000 crore-worth SilverLine is probably not financially viable instantly, that is one thing which may turn out to be a “boost to the economy of the state” over a time frame. If we may assemble the Idukki dam and nonetheless it stands, we are able to do that as effectively, the skilled added.
Echoing comparable views, S N Raghuchandran Nair, president of the Trivandrum Chamber of Commerce, stated it was excessive time the state modified its mindset concerning the improvement of public transportation programs.
“Now, we are forced to spend our precious time on the road. Fuel price is also pretty high. Projects like the Silver Line should be implemented to find solutions to the traffic issues facing the state,” he stated.
Such initiatives would assist appeal to extra enterprise ventures into the state and rejuvenate the tourism sector, Nair added.
However, he identified that it was inappropriate to plant survey stones as a part of the social impression research of the undertaking with out individuals’s consent.
All considerations and doubts of the general public ought to be addressed and cleared earlier than its implementation, Nair added.
Subodh Jain, a retired Member-Engineering, who additionally spoke in favour of the undertaking, said that it was not possible to implement the proposed undertaking within the broad gauge format.
Observing that one thing needs to be completed with regard to Kerala’s transport wants, he stated one factor may be very encouraging that everyone agrees that doing nothing just isn’t an possibility.
The major goal of the undertaking ought to be to wean individuals away from the non-public non-public mode of transportation comparable to vehicles, he added.
However, R V G Menon, a distinguished environmental scientist and an arch critic of the SilverLine, expressed sturdy reservation concerning the multi-crore undertaking saying doubling of the present rail tracks and modernisation of the signalling system was the absolute best various.
While wanting from the individuals’s perspective, the proposed SilverLine has a number of points, he stated.
“The main issue is that it is planned in standard gauge. There are semi-high speed trains running on broad gauge lines in the country. Why can’t we experiment with faster trains in our state?” he requested.
The skilled, who was the one particular person included within the panel dialogue opposing the undertaking, additionally sought to know who determined to decide on the usual gauge as a substitute of the broad gauge within the state and on what parameters that such a call was taken.
Flaying the state authorities and the Ok-Rail Corporation for relying on Japanese expertise for the undertaking, he stated if the indigenous trains and expertise had been used, it will have generated extra jobs and boosted the native financial system.
Menon additionally criticised the conduct of the controversy after the federal government announcement that the undertaking can be applied at any price.
Earlier, the panel dialogue had run into an argument with two eminent panelists backing out of the programme citing lack of readability within the invites prolonged to them.
Alok Kumar Verma, a retired Chief Bridge Engineer who ready the preliminary feasibility report of the Silver Line alias Ok-Rail undertaking however later raised objections, and environmentalist Sridhar Radhakarishnan introduced backing out of the two-hour-long dialogue. They had been inducted within the panel of these talking in opposition to the initiative.
The improvement adopted the withdrawal of social observer Joseph C Mathew, a identified critic of the state’s ruling LDF authorities, from the panel by the organisers.
Meanwhile, native individuals together with girls together with the opposition Congress activists staged a protest in entrance of the police automobile once they tried to take a home proprietor into custody for objecting to laying of the survey stone in his property in Kannur.
Though the Ok-Rail officers managed to put in the stones amidst protests with police escort, the home proprietor eliminated it later and stated the household didn’t have any prior details about the process.
Last week, the survey stone laying course of for the undertaking resumed after a spot of just about one month, triggering a contemporary spherical of clashes between locals and anti-SilverLine activists with the police throughout the state.
The SilverLine rail hall, envisaged to cowl a 530-kilometre stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod, is estimated to price round Rs 64,000 crore.
The undertaking goals to make transportation straightforward alongside the complete north-south of Kerala and scale back journey time to lower than 4 hours as in opposition to 12-14 hours.
