THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union Minister V Muraleedharan’s campaign against the Kerala government’s flagship SilverLine project saw a dramatic twist on Saturday as a family here publicly endorsed the rail corridor and informed him that they have no problem in parting with their land for the same even though he repeatedly tried to explain to them its ‘drawbacks’.
The embarrassing incident occurred at Kazhakkoottam when the minister arrived to meet people and lend a ear to their concerns on the semi-high-speed rail project by visiting their homes as part of his anti-SilverLine campaign.
However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan once again rejected state-wide protests against the ambitious project and said people would receive compensation twice the market price for their acquired land.
Meanwhile, Muraleedharan, in the visuals aired by the television channels, could be seen visiting the house of an elderly couple and trying to talk to them. As soon as he stepped into their premises, the woman in the house raised slogans praising Vijayan and his development programmes.
“We are with the government...Our land is for the development programme,” she said and wanted the SilverLine project to be implemented in the southern state. Though visibly surprised at the unexpected turn of events, the minister tried to talk and convince them but the elderly woman said she did not want to hear anything from him as they had enough knowledge about the project.
Her husband also made it clear that they had no qualms in giving away the land and were ready to shift to another property owned by the family if the present place is acquired for the rail corridor.