Vijayan govt eyed large scale corruption through Silver Line: Cong

Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition Congress in Kerala on Wednesday alleged that the Left government showed ”unnecessary haste” in the case of Silver Line project and went ahead eyeing large scale corruption by borrowing huge amount as loan for the initiative.

The Vijayan government had tried to impose the semi-high speed rail corridor project upon the people of the state with arrogance and tried to suppress the protests with their power and never bothered to reply to questions posed by the opposition parties, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan told reporters here.

However, it seems that the CM’s stand on the multi-crore project has changed now, he said, adding that the queries asked by the Congress-led UDF opposition still remain unanswered.

”Why did the Vijayan government go forward with the project without getting a nod from the union government and the Railway Board? Why did they go ahead with the land acquisition procedures without preparing a complete Detailed Project Report (DPR)?,” he asked during a press meet.

Alleging that the LDF government had shown unnecessary haste in the case of the Silver Line, Satheesan also charged that it has become evident now that what they eyed was large scale corruption by borrowing huge amounts as loan for the project.

The Congress leader warned that the proposed rail corridor would make the state more prone to natural disasters and would destroy the southern state financially like the neighbouring country Sri Lanka.

”I would like to make it clear again that the Congress-led UDF will not allow the LDF government to implement the project in the state,” the LoP added.

Satheesan’s reaction came a day after the Chief Minister said that the Centre’s current stand against the project was ‘unfortunate’ as without their approval it cannot go forward.

Vijayan had said that after receiving in-principle approval for the project, the state government moved forward with it quickly and also initiated steps, like surveys and a Social Impact Assessment (SIA), without waiting for the final nod as it did not want to delay implementation of the rail corridor.

He also said the Silverline was not a pet project of the LDF government, rather it was a project for the state of Kerala and the ruling Left dispensation was only trying to implement it.

Satheesan also criticised the Marxist veteran’s remarks against his party’s recently concluded ‘Navsankalp Chintan Shivir’, seeking to know why the CM was becoming upset when the Congress said it would take steps to broaden the grassroot level base of the party-led UDF.

Attacking Vijayan over his statement that ”there were no crutches in the CPI(M)-led allies that is fit for the opposition party”, the LoP also charged that the CM was standing straight using the ‘crutches’ offered by the BJP’s national leadership.

The Kerala government’s ambitious SilverLine project, which is expected to reduce travel time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod to around four hours, is being opposed by the Congress-led UDF, which has been alleging that it was ”unscientific and impractical” and will put a huge financial burden on the state.

The 530-km stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod would be developed by K-Rail — a joint venture of the Kerala government and the Railway Ministry for developing railway infrastructure in the southern state.