Centre has not found SilverLine DPR incomplete: Kerala CM
The Hindu
Government does not intend to withdraw cases registered against anti-SilverLine protesters, says Chief Minister
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has rubbished reports that claimed that the Union Railway Ministry had found the detailed project report (DPR) of the SilverLine project incomplete. The State government has received no information in this regard, he added.
He also said the government had gone ahead with the preliminary works, including land acquisition, for the semi-high-speed rail project after receiving approvals from both the Finance and Railway Ministries.
Mr. Vijayan, however, pointed out that no land had been acquired thus far and the owners of the identified land currently faced no technical difficulties in undertaking land transactions. He was responding to questions by the United Democratic Front (UDF) who claimed that the acquisition process had thwarted attempts made by the owners to take loans by pledging such lands.
He added that the government did not intend to withdraw the cases registered against the anti-SilverLine protesters.
The Chief Minister informed the House that the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA under the Finance Ministry) has sanctioned the State’s proposal to seek a loan of ₹1,016.24 crore from bilateral or multilateral funding agencies for Kochi Metro’s second phase works. Efforts are being made to obtain pass-through assistance as loan from external funding agencies in accordance with the directions of the DEA.
He added that the government had not approached the French lending agency Agence Française de Développement (French Development Agency) to fund the second-phase activities after obtaining the DEA clearance.
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.