Justice Devan Ramachandran said, all large scale projects, including waterways, national highways and bullet trains, have to be dealt with the same yardstick.
- Economy vs Ecology: Economy and environment has often being in clash and silver lining is one such example. The project as we gather information online is about building a semi high-speed railway corridor through the state linking its southern end and state capital Thiruvananthapuram with its northern end of Kasaragod. The line is proposed to be 529.45 kms long, covering 11 districts through 11 stations. When the project is realised, one can travel from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in less than four hours on trains travelling at 200 km/hr. The current travel time on the existing Indian Railways network is 12 hours. The long travel times is an important concern for the commuters undoubtedly but the environmental question mark is also no less.
- Kerala High Court Rules in line with Supreme Court for Developmental Projects: The Kerala High Court took a step in direction of Supreme Court judgment by admitting it was wrong to stall the SilverLine project. As pointed out by the Supreme Court, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday said the apex court has observed there needs to be a pan-India approach in such matters and therefore, this standard would be applicable to other projects in the country which face the same opposition as faced by the semi-high speed rail corridor in the southern state.
- What environmentalist has to say? According to Mongabay website- The Madayipara Biodiversity Heritage Site in north Kerala’s Kannur district is a laterite hillock surrounded by Kuppam, Ramapuram, and Peruvamba rivers and the ecologically fragile Kavvayi backwaters. Muhammed Jafer Palot of the Zoological Society of India (ZSI), the hillock is home to 657 plants, 142 butterfly species, 186 bird species, and 60 species of odonates. The government had initially said that the new line would be constructed parallel to the existing line but the present alignment at many locations is up to four km away from the existing line which will result in large-scale land acquisition. Environmental collectives like Kerala Paristhithi Aikya Vedi have demanded developing sustainable alternatives at a lesser cost before considering this expensive project. “Rs. 640 billion (Rs. 64,000 crore) is indeed a huge amount.
- Hands off approach in relation to Developmental Project: The high court was referring to a recent ruling by the apex court directing a hands-off approach by the courts in dealing with pleas opposing major developmental projects in the country.
- All Developmental Project on same yardstick: Justice Devan Ramachandran said in view of that ruling and the apex court’s Monday (March 28) decision, dismissing the appeals against a high court order permitting the Kerala government to go ahead with its SilverLine survey, all large scale projects, including waterways, national highways and bullet trains, have to be dealt with the same yardstick.
- Supreme Court: The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a batch of appeals against the Kerala High Court order stating the state government has the powers to conduct a survey and mark properties appropriately for conducting a social impact assessment (SIA) in connection with the SilverLine project.A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna dismissed the appeals and observed that the “prestigious project couldn’t have been stalled by a single judge” of the high court.
“The Supreme Court is absolutely right. This court should not have stalled the project. I definitely stand corrected. We need to have a pan-India approach. Now every project in India would be measured by the same yardstick,” the judge said.
Kerala High Court
