SilverLine: Moving at snail's pace

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It has been six months since the social impact study, the initial step of the SilverLine project, came to a halt. This is because the tenure of the study groups has not been extended. No notification has been issued to start geotagging digital survey announced by the government instead of the installation of survey stones by force. A joint survey for the acquisition of railway land has not taken place. The state government seems to be backing down from its dream project as it has doubts about obtaining approval from the Centre.

K-Rail is working on other works such as preparing the project document for the Thalassery-Mysore railway line, construction of flyovers at 27 level crossings and revising the estimate of the Sabari rail project. At the same time, CPM state secretary MV Govindan and CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran reiterated yesterday that the state government will implement the project as soon it gets central approval.

Survey stones will not be installed even if the social impact study continues. Instead, there will be a GPS-based geotagging survey. Alignment determination of the 529.45 km proposed route of Silver Line has been done by geotagging. 108 hectares of railway land needs to be acquired.

Will not abandon SilverLine
K-Rail said that the project has not been cancelled and no such proposal has been received from the government. District Collectors are responsible for survey and social impact studies. Even if there are no revenue officials, the survey can be conducted using the agency.

Status of the survey

• 955.13 hectares of private land to be acquired. As per the agreement, the social impact study should have been completed within 100 days. However, it could not be completed due to protests
• The project has not been approved by the Centre and the Railways. The High Court has ordered that the government has the power to conduct the survey.

Land to be acquired (in hectares)
Thiruvananthapuram...................................78.42

Kollam................................................... 83.06

Alappuzha...................................42.51

Pathanamthitta...................................44.47

Kottayam...................................................108.11

Ernakulam........................................120.72

Thrissur................................................... 111.47

Malappuram...................................................109.94

Kozhikode...................................42.03

Kannur................................................... .53.95

Kasaragod........................................161.26

66,405 crore- Expenses, including the price of land, compensation and construction

Tenure of study groups likely to be extended
The Revenue Department had given a letter to the Chief Minister stating that if the social impact study gets prolonged, then 205 officers, including Deputy Collector and Tehsildars, should be assigned to other projects. The Chief Minister has directed that the matter should be included in the agenda of the next cabinet meeting. The tenure of the current groups is likely to be extended. Later, a notification will be issued allowing agencies to continue the survey.