Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday announced that the state government has decided to scrap the controversial Silverline semi-high speed rail project, one of the flagship initiatives of the previous Left Democratic Front government.
Addressing a press conference after a Cabinet meeting, Satheesan said the Cabinet had decided to officially abandon the Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod semi-high speed rail corridor project, popularly known as Silverline.
The Chief Minister said all notifications issued for land acquisition linked to the project would be revoked. He also announced that the government would recommend withdrawing criminal cases registered against protesters who opposed the project, subject to court approval.
“The Cabinet has decided to scrap the Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod semi-high speed rail corridor project called Silverline,” Satheesan said.
The 530-km Silverline project, proposed by K-Rail — a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Ministry of Railways — aimed to reduce travel time between the northern and southern ends of the state to around four hours.
The project had triggered widespread protests across Kerala, mainly led by the Congress-led United Democratic Front. Protesters had uprooted and removed yellow survey stones installed as part of the land acquisition process.
Satheesan said the decision to denotify the project was taken as the initiative had already been abandoned, while lands marked for acquisition remained frozen, causing hardship to ordinary people. He added that since the state had effectively dropped the project, the Centre also did not grant approval for it.
“All advertisements issued in connection with land acquisition for the project will be denotified,” he said.
Regarding the protest-related cases pending in police stations and courts, the Chief Minister said the Home Department would examine them and recommend withdrawal depending on their nature.
“The court will have to grant permission for withdrawing the cases,” he added.
The Chief Minister also said the Revenue Department had been directed to remove the yellow concrete markers installed in several places during the land acquisition process.
Satheesan reiterated that the United Democratic Front was not opposed to the idea of a high-speed rail corridor itself, but objected to the Silverline project on financial and environmental grounds.
“We opposed Silverline because it did not even have a proper Detailed Project Report. Had it been implemented, it would have become an environmental disaster. The plan included 30-foot-high embankments across 300 km and 10-foot-high walls along another 200 km,” he said.
According to him, the proposed structure would have severely affected the state during monsoons and was not environmentally sustainable. He said the UDF reached the conclusion that the project was unviable after consulting various experts.
Satheesan also criticised the previous LDF government for not officially denotifying the project despite abandoning it earlier.
During the press conference, the Chief Minister announced another major Cabinet decision — extending the validity of Public Service Commission examination rank lists till November 30.
He said all PSC rank lists set to expire by August 31 would now remain valid till November 30, and directions would be issued to the Public Service Commission accordingly.
Explaining the move, Satheesan said appointments had slowed considerably during the election period, leaving many candidates disappointed.
“Usually, rank list validity is not extended. But this time, because of election-related work, appointments could not be carried out. Many youngsters faced difficulties due to the delay,” he said.
The Chief Minister also referred to the UDF manifesto, saying all promises made to the public would be distributed among various departments for implementation under a programme titled “Vision 2031”.
“We have instructed departments to immediately begin work on implementing all manifesto promises so that they can be completed before the government’s term ends in 2031,” he said.
He further announced that, beginning June 1, the government would focus on completing promises that could be implemented quickly with minimal intervention during its first 100 days.
The Cabinet also decided to form a sub-committee to recommend names for the Padma awards to the Centre.
Additionally, advocate Mohammed Shah will be appointed as the Additional Advocate General in the Kerala High Court, the Chief Minister said.
With IANS inputs