Kerala govt has decided to scrap Silverline project: CM Satheesan

Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday said that his government has decided to scrap the Silverline semi-high speed rail project, an ambitious initiative of the previous LDF administration.

Satheesan said at a press conference here that the notifications regarding land acquisition for the project will be revoked.

Besides that, the government will also recommend withdrawing criminal cases lodged against those who opposed the Silverline project, subject to the court's decision, the CM said after a Cabinet meeting he chaired.

''The Cabinet has decided to scrap the Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod semi-high speed rail corridor project called Silverline,'' Satheesan said at the commencement of his press conference.

The Left government's 530-km Silverline project, planned by K-Rail -- a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Ministry of Railways -- was expected to reduce travel time between the two districts at the two ends of the state to just four hours.

Extensive protests against the project were held across the state, led by the Congress. Agitators uprooted and threw away many yellow markers associated with the project.

The CM said the decision was taken because the project was abandoned and no transactions could be carried out regarding the lands notified for acquisition, which affected common people.

As the state abandoned the project, even the central government did not give approval for it.

Therefore, all advertisements issued in connection with the acquisition of land for the project will be denotified, he said.

With regard to cases pending in various courts and police stations concerning the protests against the project, the Home Department will examine them and recommend withdrawal based on their nature, Satheesan said.

''The court will have to give permission to withdraw them,'' he added.

He further said that the revenue department has been instructed to remove the yellow concrete markers set up at various places as part of the land acquisition process for the project.

Satheesan said that the UDF was not against a high-speed rail corridor as long as it did not affect Kerala financially or environmentally.

''We had opposed the Silverline as it did not even have a proper Detailed Project Report (DPR). Had it been implemented, it would have been an environmental disaster, as 30-foot-high embankments were planned for 300 km and 10-foot-high walls for another 200 km of the rail corridor,'' he said.

''During monsoons, it would have turned into an environmental disaster. It was not a sustainable project,'' he contended.

He said that the UDF came to the conclusion that the project was unviable after discussions with all kinds of experts.

The CM said that the LDF government only had to issue an order to denotify it, but it was not done despite abandoning the project.

During the press conference, he also said that the cabinet has decided to extend the validity of the Public Service Commission's (PSC) exam rank lists till November 30, as hardly any appointments were made during the election period.

The validity of all PSC rank lists -- those expiring by August 31 -- will be extended till November 30, and instructions in this regard will be issued to the Public Service Commission, he said.

He said that usually, rank list validity is not extended, but this time, due to the elections and related work, no appointments were made, and that is why the decision was taken to extend it.

''The lack of appointments disappointed many youngsters and created difficulties for them,'' Satheesan said.

He also referred to the UDF manifesto and said the promises made in it will be divided among the various departments responsible for their implementation.

''We have termed it Vision 2031. Instructions have been issued to immediately start working on implementing all the promises made to the public in the manifesto so that it can be finished before this government's term expires in 2031,'' the CM said.

He also said that in the 100 days starting from June 1, the government will first try to finish all the manifesto promises that can be implemented quickly with minimal intervention.

The Cabinet meeting also decided to create a sub-committee for recommending names to the Centre for the Padma awards, he said.

In addition, the Cabinet also decided to appoint advocate Mohammed Shah as the Additional Advocate General in the Kerala High Court, the CM said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)