THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The doubts expressed by the central government about the SilverLine project will be resolved in a joint inspection by Southern Railway and K-Rail. The Centre had pointed out the vagueness over the technical aspects like alignment plan, figures regarding railway land and private land, existing crossings and affected railway land. With the joint inspection giving a clear picture of the project, the financial feasibility of the project can also be examined.

Joint inspection

185 hectares of railway land is to be acquired. The land value of Rs 975 crore will be considered as the share of the railways. Following a discussion between the Railway Board Chairman and the Chief Secretary, a decision was taken to install boundary stones on the acquired railway land. The Railway and K-Rail authorities also decided to conduct a joint inspection on the alignment prior to this. The Railway officials were not able to come to Kerala for site inspection due to the Covid pandemic. The joint inspection will begin once the spread of Covid decreases. The officials have to find out how much railway land should be acquired. It must be approved by the Southern Railway and the Railway Board. It will take three months for inspection, verification and railway clearance. Most of the railway land is to be acquired in the northern districts.

Meanwhile, the K-Rail said that the Centre had not said it would not approve the project and that it was natural to raise doubts regarding the project report. The DPR is complete and under the scrutiny of the Ministry of Railways. K-Rail will answer the Centre's queries. The social impact study is to understand the details of the private land to be acquired. Through the study, it will be clear how the project will affect the people. A notification regarding this has been issued in all the 11 districts through which the semi high-speed rail passes. Railway projects do not require environmental clearance. Therefore, the environmental study report need not be submitted to the Centre. K-Rail has applied to the Centre for a foreign loan for the project. K-Rail did not say that it obtained a final approval in this regard. At present, pre-investment process is underway on the basis of the in-principle approval.