Kerala: Anti-SilverLine committee holds meeting to decide on future course of action

Kochi (Kerala) [India], December 13 (ANI): Anti-SilverLine committee, spearheading statewide protests against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government’s SilverLine project, on Tuesday held a meeting with workers in Kochi to decide future actions.
The semi-high-speed rail project, which is known as the Silverline Project, aims to connect Kasaragod in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south minimizing the twelve-hour long distance to four hours. It was started by the Pinarayi Vijayan government during its second term.
The decision to hold a meeting came in the wake of Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan’s clarification in the State Assembly, stating that the government is in no mood to withdraw the said project and the criminal cases against the protestors.
“We will go ahead with the agitation programs against the SilverLine project. For the past few days, the Chief Minister and the Revenue Minister have been making misleading statements to the people. They said there is no hindrance in buying and selling the land where they already laid the stone for the project,” S Rajeevan, General Convenor of the Anti-SilverLine committee said.
“The government has published an alignment map and completed stone laying too. Still, the government is misleading people by saying that there is no restriction on buying and selling this land,” he reiterated.
Furious over the State government for not withdrawing the cases against the protesters, S Rajeevan said, “the government said that the cases against those who participated in the Anti-SilverLine protest will not be withdrawn. We have not destroyed public property, we have not besieged government offices. Still, cases were registered against us.”
“In response to questions raised by MPs from Kerala in Parliament, the central government says the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is incomplete. The state government is misleading people by saying that there are no problems in DPR,” he added.
The Anti-SilverLine committee’s demand is to withdraw the SilverLine project and take back cases registered against the protestors who demonstrated against the said project.
“Our demands are to pass an order regarding the withdrawal of the project and to withdraw the cases against us,” S Rajeevan said.
“The Kerala government is against this, but the protest will be carried forward across the state,” he added. (ANI)