Cong warns Vijayan's 'K-Rail' project will be his 'Nandigram'

A day after reports surfaced that special officers have been appointed by the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala to acquire land for the now controversial Silver Line (K-Rail), a state of the art joint venture of the Indian Railways and the State Government, the Congress led UDF on Tuesday warned Vijayan that they should not go forward with this project.

"K-Rail will be the 'Nandigram' of Kerala and what happened to CPI-M in West Bengal will happen here. We warn Vijayan that at no cost will the Congress led UDF allow this project to go forward. Kerala will soon see never before seen protest against this impractical project. We have been asking questions on this project and we have not got answers. Come what may, we will not allow this project, as it will be the doom for the state. There has been an undue haste shown by Vijayan for this project," said Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan.

Satheesan was speaking at a day long protest led by Kollam Lok Sabha member N.K. Premachandran and other UDF leaders at Kundara, about 70 km from Thiruvananthapuuram to protest the decision of Vijayan to go forward in land acquisition for this project.

Incidentally, this is one of Vijayan's pet project which if done will set up 529.45 km corridor connecting Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod.

A semi high speed train will be able to travel this stretch in a matter of 4 hours at an operational speed of 200 km per hour.

These trains will cover the busy Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam stretch in 90 minutes, which at present takes more than four hours.


Silver Line will be running parallel to the existing railway line from Kasaragod to Tirur, while an alternative green-field alignment has been chosen for Tirur-Thiruvananthapuram stretch.

Vijayan had mooted this project in his first term (2016-21) and had worked for it and is presently lying before the Centre.

"Vijayan now does a Modi as both of them play the 'nationalist' card, when the Opposition raises protests against any projects. It's hilarious to hear Vijayan often accuse us of playing spoilsport in development. When they are in opposition, they oppose everything and this is what people of Kerala have seen for decades. At no cost will we allow this project to go forward," added Satheesan.

According to estimates this project is expected to cost over Rs 60,000 crore, while some say, when completed it will cost a staggering Rs 1 lakh crore and the cost benefit analysis of this project is not feasible, but Vijayan inside and outside the assembly has been determined to see this takes off. - IANS