THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday. The Supreme Court's order on setting up a buffer zone around protected forests and the state's proposed 'SilverLine' semi-high-speed rail project are likely to figure in the discussions.
According to a note from the Chief Minister's office, the meeting will be held at the Prime Minister's official residence at 10.30 am on Tuesday. The Chief Minister is currently in Delhi to attend a meeting of the CPM Politburo scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Last week, Pinarayi assured the people living in the protected forests spread across 115 densely populated panchayats in the state that they would not lose their land or livelihood in the wake of the one-kilometre buffer zone.
On 'SilverLine', Pinarayi has told the Assembly that the Union government has no other option but to sanction the state's ambitious 540-km-long semi-high-speed railway project. Reiterating that the state government has not retreated from the scheme, the Chief Minister said the redeployment of officials assigned to acquire land for the project was only a "temporary measure" until the Centre sanctions 'SilverLine'.