Silverline will be a financial albatross around Kerala’s neck: Prashant Bhushan
The Hindu
Rail project will not serve common people, he says
The proposed Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod semi high-speed rail (Silverline) is going to become a financial albatross around the neck of Kerala, noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan has said.
Speaking at an ongoing satyagraha against the project at Kattilpeedika near Koyilandy in Kozhikode district on Sunday, he said that it would become a white elephant, which the people would continue to pay for decades altogether.
Mr. Bhushan said that Alok Varma, former Chief Engineer, Indian Railways, had told him that this project would break the backbone of Kerala. The high-speed line from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram had been conceived as a stand-alone standard gauge line, which would have a completely new alignment, different from the alignment of the normal rail lines. It would involve several tunnels and bridges that cut through the fragile mountainous terrain of Kerala. It would also involve acquisition of 1,000 hectares of new land, which would destroy the ecosystem of the State, which is prone to landslips and floods.