Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Hindu
The Hindu
National
Staff Reporter

Development needed, not destruction, says Medha

The SilverLine project will not only be wasteful, but also financially non-viable, environmental activist Medha Patkar has said. She was delivering the inaugural address at a mass gathering organised by the K-Rail Virudha Samithi (protest committee) here on Thursday against the SilverLine project and the valedictory of a march taken out from Kasaragod across 11 districts to the State capital.

Ms. Patkar said the protest against the project was a battle to save Kerala, its natural resources, and more than 20,000 families, but also the country from the high-speed development paradigm. “We want development, not destruction,’’ Ms. Patkar said.

“Neo-liberal policies are bringing in projects such as SilverLine or the bullet train. Both are more or less the same. Still, the destruction in Kerala will be much more than that in Maharashtra where protests are being held against the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project,” she said.

After the floods, the Kerala government was expected to review the development paradigm. But instead of having a dialogue with the people who were questioning the project, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had gone to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We want to raise the question if they have the same development vision.”

The in-principle nod for a pre-feasibility study that was given by the Union government was the first wrong step. Differences in facts in the pre-feasibility, feasibility, and detailed project reports had been pointed out earlier, she said, asking what should one believe.

Social activist Medha Patkar leads a protest march against K-Rail in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. (Source: Special Arrangement)

Raising the issue of environmental and social impact assessments of the project, she said that without legal mandatory processes, lives of people would be affected. Instead of taking development on the path of sustainbility and justice, people’s homes were being trespassed on.

Terming the project elitist, she appealed to the LDF constituents to enter into a dialogue with the people who were protesting against the project.

The protest, Ms. Patkar said, should be taken ahead by a leadership that had the support of MPs and MLAs who were sensitive to the people’s demand but also communities from across the State.

Shashikant Sonawane, a leader of the protest against the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, said the CPI(M) leadership that was against the train project there was proposing the SilverLine project here. “Is the CPI(M) in Maharashtra different from that in Kerala?”

People’s power was sovereign in a democracy, he said, saying no one could negate it. “Who will travel by SilverLine. Who will pay for it?” he asked.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said this was not a political protest, but a call by the people for their survival. People’s opinions should be taken into account. Any concerns expressed should be addressed by the government, he said.

Samithi chairman M.P. Baburaj presided.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.