KASARAGOD: The K-Rail's Silverline rail line project, which proposes to connect Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram in four hours, would be the "dark line" of Kerala, said social activist Medha Patkar. "It is not Silverline but a dark line," she said.
Patkar was speaking to reporters in Kasaragod on Sunday.
Patkar, who visited several houses of people who will lose land to the Silverline project in Keezhur, said the state government had no idea of the destruction the project would cause to the state and the people of the state. "The project may start from Kasaragod but it will be stopped by the people before it reaches Thiruvananthapuram," she said.
She said the CPM should not forget what happened to the party after it tried to ignore the people and tried to acquire land for an industrial project in West Bengal's Nandigram. "Those who are going ahead with Silverline have learned nothing from Nandigram," she said.
In 2007, the CPM-led West Bengal government tried to forcibly acquire land to build a special economic zone to set up a petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals hub. The people's protest led to the police and CPM party workers clashing with the farmers and land losers in Nandigram, leaving several persons dead. The government had to abandon the project.
In Maharashtra, Patkar said, the CPM joined hands with farmers and social activists to protest against the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. "We joined hands to protest against Coca-Cola in Plachimada," she said. "I hope the LDF government will not go ahead with the Silverline project. It affects life and nature," she said.