Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday made it clear that he would go ahead with the Rs-63,941-crore Semi High Speed Rail by reminding Kerala how the previous LDF ministry under him had went about completing three big infrastructure projects that were left for dead: NH widening, GAIL pipeline and the Kudankulam-Kochi power line. He said land acquisition would be completed in two years and the project would become operational in 2025.
He was addressing a gathering of nearly 200 invited guests in the capital, the first of the chief minister's outreach programmes to convince the public about the desirability of the Rs 63,941-crore SilverLine project. The chief minister announced a generous compensation and rehabilitation package but also hinted, by recalling how the anti-Kudankulam protesters were dealt with, that his government would not hesitate to use force against people out to scuttle a project he said was inevitable for the progress of Kerala.
Though he repeated the charge that there were vested interests behind the opposition to the project, the chief minister also conceded that such projects were bound to create some doubts. “It is the responsibility of the government to remove such doubts,” Pinarayi said.
The chief minister then attempted to reassure sceptics of the projects but merely repeated what was already stated in the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail) website and the controversial 'rapid environment impact study' done by a private firm, Systra. At times, when he spoke of the environmental impact, the chief minister even contradicted the official detailed project report (DPR) of the SilverLine project.
Minimal social impact
The chief minister said that over 9,300 buildings will be demolished. He did not specify the number of families that would be displaced. Earlier in the Assembly, he had said it would be less than 10,000.
He said the affected would be compensated and rehabilitated as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. "The objective is to keep the impact minimal," he said.
The plan is to take over 1,383 hectares of land, of which nearly 85 per cent (1,198 hectares) is private land.
Nonetheless, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has already raised suspicions. The NHAI says the cost of land acquisition is highest in Kerala. It estimates an expenditure of over Rs 22,000 crore for acquiring 1200 hectares in Kerala while in the SilverLine DPR the cost estimated to acquire a larger area of 1,383 hectares is only Rs 13,000 crore.
No ecological damage, only gains
This rail does not pass through ecologically sensitive zones, the chief minister said. However, an official source told Onmanorama that the Chief Minister's comment is based on a very loose reading of ecological fragility.
“The Gadgil committee had first earmarked nearly 25,000 sq kms of the total geographic area of the state as ecologically sensitive. The Kasturirangan panel that came after pared it down to 13,801 sq kms. This was further and drastically pruned to 3,247 sq kms by the Oommen V Oommen committee, whose map now forms our official understanding of ecological sensitivity. Most of the landslide prone regions in Kerala, therefore, are not officially considered ecologically sensitive areas," the official said.
The chief minister said that the semi high speed line does not cut through any of the wildlife sanctuaries in Kerala. But he also made an outrageous claim. "The rail will not affect the natural flow of any of the rivers or lakes or water bodies in Kerala," the chief minister said.
The rapid EIA done for the projects says otherwise. It notes that the project area “cuts through almost all the water sources of Kerala”. The rapid EIA also concedes that a detailed assessment needs to be done. “The rail line proposed is running almost nearer to the coast for the considerable part of the alignment. However, this rapid EIA does not cover the Tsunami/Tidal effects in detail, it is imperative to consider the same during the comprehensive EIA,” it says.
Yet, even without doing the comprehensive EIA, the chief minister claimed that there would be no ecological damage. The rapid EIA, despite its limited scope, had also identified 164 hydrologically sensitive areas along the proposed embankment.
Instead, the chief minister said that the rail would eradicate tonnes of carbon emissions and weaken the demand for fossil fuel.
Long embankment will not cause floods
“Most existing railway lines are on embankments. If these have not caused floods, what prompts people to say that the SiliverLine's would,” the chief minister asked. He once again, contradicting the official DPR, claimed that the natural flow of the water would not be blocked anywhere along the course of the rail.
Pinarayi also brushed aside the charge that the embankment would divide Kerala into two. “There will be either overbridges or underpasses every 500 metres of the embankment,” he said. He did not mention that walls would be erected to prevent public trespass into the rails.
No point in developing existing railway
“There is just 19 kms left for doubling in the Thiruvananthapuram-Mengaluru stretch. But has there been a noticeable improvement in train speeds,” the chief minister asked. Further, he said that there were 626 curves between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod. "To increase speeds, these curves will have to be straightened and this is highly impractical," Pinarayi said.