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Every Cloud Will Not Have a “Silver Lining”
Since 2018, we in Kerala especially those of us living in mountainous areas or the coast are afraid when clouds darken the skies and there is possibility of rains. This is because for 2 years in sequence we have faced torrential floods when dams, rivers and lakes (all water bodies ) overflow and take away everything that we possess, sometimes the lives of our beloved ones. This is because for 2 years and infrequently too mountains and hills have lost stability and come down like an avalanche breaking all conventional and accepted definitions of land slide and mountain collapse. We have had gory and traumatic scenes of being submerged in water or buried in soil.
A silver lining to this dark cloud of disaster has been the emergence of concepts and words like “rebuild Kerala along environmental /ecological restoration lines”. There was hope that the development and planning process would include decentralized consultative processes that would take into account the ecologically vulnerable and fragile zones in this small state. That this process will consider regional, micro level factors that each area has and follow diverse patterns for restoring the land back to a state where people /communities can find secure, stable livelihoods with access to resources and right to life and decent living standards. For the people of Kerala who have been living with this Damocles sword of disaster and human induced acceleration of climate change ill effects, development meant safe and secure homes, stable livelihoods, access to clean air and water, food security, just health facilities and education, reliable transportation, to name a few. It would also mean an end to all kinds of violence in the society – domestic, gender, politically motivated and reinstating of a democratic process of decision making. An honest communication with communities especially people who are marginalized in every sense of the word would reveal their basic needs are different; those with hidden agendas including politically influenced program sheets alone would say otherwise. This is for us the real silver lining to the ominous dark cloud.
But the real ‘Silver Line’ that has been in the news came in a few years ago. It went unnoticed for a while but the recent developments and responses among citizens concerning the implementation of the Silver Line Semi Speed Rail Project included in the National Rail Plan with the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd ( K-Rail) at the helm of the project indicate that it has been brought to the fore again.
Apart from our misgivings about the financial viability of the project and its anticipated contributions to the Indian Railway System and State of Kerala, we are also convinced about the environmental, social and cultural adverse impact of the project. The highly reliable report made by The Centre for Financial Accountability has asked pertinent and shocking questions including whether Kerala really needs such a bullet train. Apart from this financial debt that the State will have to bear along with the ambiguity of funding sources has already raised eyebrows among well known economists both in the State and the country.
As you know, this small state of ours is already ravaged by 2 devastating floods, fatal landslides, torrential rains and increase in number of ecologically fragile areas. The environmental vulnerability of the State will be doubled as the rail project which extends 529.45 kms from the southern most Kochuveli near Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod cut across 178 villages in 11 districts. Ahead of the social impact study, the laying of boundary stone of the proposed semi high speed rail corridor has been completed in 15 villages in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Ernakulam, Kannur and Kasargod districts. The 11 affected districts apart from the 5 mentioned above include Pathanamthitta /Alapuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode. This fragmentation will lead to the devastation of several crucial ecosystems that are the base of the stability and livelihood of the population. This along with the technical way in which 80% of the rail line will be constructed on tall concrete embankments will result in blocking natural hydrological cycles along with land use pattern changes, all of which we cannot afford at this stage of crisis that we are in.
The land acquisition process (1,383 hectares of land and 9314 buildings will be affected) that has started already in many parts of the State without prior intimation to the public has been creating protests and reactions from the affected people.Meanwhile, the K- Rail , a joint ventire between the State Government and Union Railway Ministry had drawn flak from the High Court , for laying survey or boundary stones , emblazoned with KRAIL on it, on properties to be acquired for the project. The Court barred K-Rail from laying the stone while allowing the survey to continue “but within the parameters of the law and maintaining the limits of civilized behavior and civility “. A quick look at the videos available on the response of people to the survey team would reveal several instances of overstepping the limits of civilized behavior and civility. The Chief Minister assures that the State will meet the entire land acquisition cost of Rs 13,700 crores. We understand with shock that the Niti Aayog had earlier communicated to the Kerala Government that the project cost would come to almost double the estimate of the state government (which is Rs 63,490 crore) to Rs 1,26,000 crore! The public debt of Kerala is expected to touch Rs 3.27 lakh crore in the current fiscal ie 2021-2022.
We are shocked and livid that there has been no transparency in making available crucial documents like the Detailed Project Report, the Feasibility Reports, Environmental Impact Assessment Reports, Social Impact Assessment Report, the Land Acquisition details, the Resettlement and Rehabilitation surveys and so on, to mention a few. Our convictions about the fallacy of the project is based on the study and analysis done by team of experts whom we as people can depend upon as unbiased and democratic. There is now a wealth of reliable materials in social media written with authentic data proving the adverse affects of the projects from poets, writers, economists, engineers, journalists, ecologists including the much acclaimed Metro Man E. Sridharan.
The lack of transparency and initiation of land acquisition processes in many places without prior intimation to the public has caused mixed reactions and responses touching on violence and use of brute police force. The mass coming together of more than 5000 people from areas directly affected by the project on Oct 21st 2021 in front of Thiruvananthapuram Secretariat and the crucial questions they raised about the need for such a divisive development that will benefit a few has fallen on deaf ears. The only answer that the Chief Minister of Kerala is offering to the protestors and civil society who have dared question is “Silver line project is inevitable for Kerala”. Everyday we witness protests and resistance by local communities in various parts of Kerala where unannounced survey team reaches villages and puts stones marking the places where the Silver line will be passing .
Now we hear that door to door campaign has started by LDF that the anti-development movement is triggered by a joint front created by BJP-Congress-Jamaithia Islamia. We also understand that the Government is going to organize a public dialogue with selected members of the civil society about the benefits of the project. There are arrogant and demeaning statements floating in the air uttered by those in power that include “no need to threaten us, we will go forward”. It will be worth while in the long run to examine who is threatening whom! As this is being written, the first interaction with “eminent” citizens has taken place in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram. None of the people we know as eminent has been invited. This shows how “invited eminent people” selected by unknown criteria will take place in the coming days in other districts too.
A petition signed by over 100 people from different walks of life that was given to the Chief Minister on 23rd December (the first death anniversary of noted poetess B.Sugatha Kumari who would have been at the forefront of the anti KRail movement had she been alive) is met with a crisp reply that it has been forwarded to the Principal Secretary, Transportation department. Is this the kind of reply that should be given to a public petition endorsed by academicians, senior journalists, ecologists, farmers collective, engineers, students? A similar letter endorsed by 150 people requesting the Prime Minister of the country to refrain from giving permission to the project has been given on New Year’s day. This is to establish the fact that the resistance and protest is not just from the affected people but by many who believe that the need of the hour for this state is not Krail but much more urgent priorities.
It is evident that with the K-Rail Silver line project, no cloud in Kerala will have a silver line. We will be covered by the eternal cloud of undemocratic, unjust decision making and brutal implementation of a falsified project named development .
In this context, this is also an appeal to the people of the country to come together and write to the Chief Minister of Kerala to slow down a bit and listen to the people and to the Prime Minister of the country to refrain from giving permission to this controversial project.
The mail ids are chiefminister@kerala.gov.in / narendramodi1234@gmail.com or connect@mygov.nic.in
(Courtesy: Countercurrents.org.)
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Why the Dream Project Silver Line/K-Rail Is a Nightmare?
The Chief Minister of Kerala who is now on a stint meeting the “ prominent citizens” in each of the 11 districts through which the Silver line project will pass should instead turn off the alarming signal lights and sirens of his car and step out in the streets masquerading as an ordinary citizen (as Kings of yester years used to do) and listen to the pulse of the people. The package of assurances that he is offering with the casually worded rhetoric “This project is inevitable for Kerala” should be remade as an answer to what he will hear in secret as he passes the small wayside shops, the fields, the river side and hills where people who have lost their sleep fearing immediate displacement are voicing their dissent. Instead of using police force to silence and scare the people, Pinarayi Vijayan and team should step down and talk to those affected instead of the “prominent personalities”, not even one of which will be in the affected list. If so this is what he will hear:
“We are fishers living on the banks of Muvattupuzha river. There are about 75 families who depend on fishing- we women take the fish caught by the men to the houses and make a living. The Silver line project will pass through and destroy our homes which are our real dream project of a life time. This is our dream-to live peacefully and pursue our livelihood.”
“We want to know whose dream, whose development this Government is talking about? We have not dreamt like this. We have wished for a house of our own, to work hard and make a decent living. Silver line project has never figured in our remotest dreams.”
“We were badly affected by the floods of 2018. Many of us lived in rehabilitation centres for months till our houses could be made livable. In addition to this fear and anxiety is the fear and scare of being thrown away and displaced with no assurance .Can compensation in money make up for what we will be losing?”
“None of us are ever going to make use of the dream facilities that the Silver line project is offering. We do not want to reach Kasargod or Thiruvananthapuram in few hours. For us time is in our hands and we know how best to make it worth while.”
“It is not just the people who are going to lose land or houses who are opposing the project. The CM along with the planners and developers should know that it is a true people’s resistance that we are witnessing now. It consists of well informed people who are convinced that the project will spell doom on the financial, environmental and social fabric of Kerala.”
“This resistance consist of people from all walks of life, from all political parties. We will not allow any one to hijack or spoil the tempo of the struggle. This is because our opposition is based on solid facts and studies.”
“The struggle and resistance consists of people who are not just merely being displaced by the project. It consists of people who want Kerala to exist as a whole. It consists of people who know how such packages and dreams have misled and failed the people.”
“If the project is based on studies and facts why is the Government afraid to put all documents pertaining to the project as a Public Dialogue, take people, the Local Self Governments and the Samara Samithi into confidence and present it before us? Why is that all RTIs filed are rejected and no document has been made available?”
“What we want now is the fulfillment of simple dreams like access to safe drinking water, good roads, schools, health facilities and livelihood and food security. Will Krail satisfy any of these?”
“We understand that there are major mismatches in Silverline’s two feasibility reports and Detailed Project report. Also that the structural design has been altered without eco impact study .How can we silently accept a disaster in the making?”
“We know that academicians and scholars in all fields like economics, environment and social science are joining the voice of resistance and asking pertinent questions. The most recent one is the appeal by a prominent person who has requested the CM to freeze the Silver line till the Feasibility report is ready. Should not people like him be included in the “prominent personality list” and convinced about the project?”
There will be no doubt that the Chief Minister of Kerala will return to his chamber a changed man after this masquerade among the people and review the K-Rail project. Or else this dream project of a few will be built on the shattered lives and dreams of Kerala.
(Courtesy: Countercurrents.org.)
