Amid mounting protest against the proposed high-speed rail project, the Kerala government on Friday decided to hear dissenting voices and conduct debates on technical and feasibility aspects of the K-Rail project.
The first debate will be organised on April 28 in the state capital. The Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), nodal agency for the project, invited three opponents and three supporters of the project for the initial discussion. Three persons who oppose the project called for the debate - former IRS officer Alok Verma, environmental scientist RVG Menon and IT expert and political observer Joseph C Mathew - later confirmed invitation to the event.
And three proponents of the project are former railway board member Subodh Jain, Digital University VC Saji Gopinath and president of Thiruvananthapuram Chamber of Commerce and Industry NS Raghuchandran Nair.
The KRDCL said each speaker will be given 10 minutes each to explain their position and there will be a question-and-answer session in the end. Science and technology principal secretary KP Sudhir will be the moderator.
Opposition Congress and BJP welcomed the initiative but they said people who have been affected by the project should have been called first. Though the state has been witnessing protest for more than six months this is the first time the government has called for talks and debate.
{{/usCountry}}Opposition Congress and BJP welcomed the initiative but they said people who have been affected by the project should have been called first. Though the state has been witnessing protest for more than six months this is the first time the government has called for talks and debate.
{{/usCountry}}“Instead of cherry-picking the government should have called the affected people first. Living legends like E Sreedharan also overlooked,” said BJP leader MT Ramesh.
Meanwhile, protests against survey-stone lying continued in some areas. In Kannur (north Kerala) protestors blocked officials but they laid poles with the help police but protestors removed them later. Many protestors were injured in Kazhakootam, on the outskirts of the state capital, in a clash with police on Thursday.
The ₹63,941 crore project was mired in controversy since it was announced two years ago.
Opposition parties and a section of environmentalists opposed it vehemently saying it was announced without any study and it will pose huge financial burden and destroy ecologically-sensitive areas. But the ruling front insisted that the project, which will cut down running time from one end of the state to the other by four hours from present 12, will be a game-changer and attract enough investments.