The Communist Party of India (CPI), a part of the ruling CPI (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala, on Sunday expressed concerns over the growing resentment against the government’s K Rail project, which has already drawn flak from Congress and other opposition parties in the state.
“There are a lot of apprehensions among people. The government will have to clear them and release the detailed project report (DPR),” said CPI joint secretary Prakash Babu.
The ₹63,490-crore K-rail project aims at developing a high-speed rail network, connecting north Kerala’s Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. The state will need 1,383 hectares of land for the project, of which 1,383 hectares is private land. The state plans to fund the project using equity funds from the government, foreign lending and the railway ministry’s part-funding. The rail network will bring down the travel time between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram, covering 529.45 km, to only four hours (from 12 hours at present) and it will be completed by 2025, said Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd, the nodal agency for the proposed project. The Centre is yet to give a green signal to the project.
Many left-leaning organisations like Sasthra Sahitya Parishad have also opposed the project, saying that it will be a sure recipe for environmental degradation.
{{/usCountry}}Many left-leaning organisations like Sasthra Sahitya Parishad have also opposed the project, saying that it will be a sure recipe for environmental degradation.
{{/usCountry}}When Left MPs met Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav last week in New Delhi, CPI MP Binoy Viswom kept away. Though he cited personal reasons, people close to him said he was not happy with the project.
Many environmental activists have also opposed the proposed project, saying the state is yet to learn lessons from recent natural calamities and early warnings of climate change. They said the government was going ahead with the project without a proper environmental impact study.
“No proper environment impact study was done. It seem the government is in hurry. It will lead to displacement of thousands of people and wetland will be affected. Such big projects will cripple fragile environment of the state. It seems the state is yet to learn a lesson from recent natural calamities,” said Dr S Vijayan, a wildlife scientist, who was part of the Madhav Gadgil committee on Western Ghats.
Metro Man E Sreedharan also said the high-speed rail project was not feasible in a state like Kerala. “In a densely- populated state it is not feasible. Moreover, around 140 km of the rail line passes through wetland and it is not suitable for high-speed trains,” he said.
The Congress and other opposition parties said, “K-Rail will turn another Nandigram” for the party and government. The reference is a clash between police, West Bengal-ruling CPI (M) members and villagers in Nandigram in 2007, which sparked violence, leaving 14 people dead and many more injured.
Unfazed by the criticism, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said his government will go ahead with the project, with his party asking the cadre to “expose forces” that are bend to “derail developmental activities” of the state. “For some, it has become a habit to oppose everything. The government will not bend before such forces. People gave us a big mandate to implement such projects,” Vijayan said in Pathanamthitta.
Congress rap Tharoor (Subhead)
The Congress on Sunday toughened its position on party MP Shashi Tharoor, who refused to oppose the project and sought more time to study it.
“If you are a party MP you have to follow the party line. Otherwise, you can leave the party, we have told him in clear terms. There is no personal opinion before the collective decision of the party. Hope he will clear the air soon,” said party state president K Sudhakaran.
Two weeks back, 17 MPs from the state wrote to railway minister Vaishnav urging him not to give clearance to the high-speed project. Tharoor abstained from it, saying that he needed more time to study the project. However, he clarified that not signing the letter does not mean that he supported the project. While attending the inaugural ceremony of Lulu Mall in the state capital on December 16, Tharoor lauded the developmental initiatives of Kerala CM Vijayan, hurting the sentiments of party leaders again. The senior leader made it clear that he never shied away from congratulating a person who did a good job, and there was no need to read between the lines.
The Congress was forced to go after Tharoor after some allies resented his open defiance of the party, and the CPI (M) started praising his “bold position,” said party insiders, adding that he has been asked to clear the air at the earliest. “All must have a personal opinion. But once the United Democratic Front (UDF) decides, all leaders are bound to go by it. Tharoor’s indifferent position will weaken the UDF stand,” said Revolutionary Socialist Party leader N K Premachandran MP. Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan also criticised Tharoor saying, “the party always protected him in critical times, not the CPI (M).”
Despite mounting criticism from the party, Tharoor is yet to react.