Should Kerala govt follow up the K Rail project ?

K Rail project is a railway project that is being claimed will help Kerala to reduce the travel time from Kasargod in north to Trivandrum in the South. 

K-Rail is a government-proposed speed-rail corridor collaboration between Kerala Govt and Department of Railways Govt of india, connecting Kasaragod in the north and Thiruvananthapuram in the south. K-Rail promises a 200 km per hour speed, and is expected to cover a distance of 529.45 km in less than four hours — at present it takes the Indian Railways 10-12 hours to cover this distance                                                 www.moneycontrol.com

Most of the people of Kerala I spoke to are tooth and nail opposed to the project. All media are against the project. E Sridharan, the metro man of India, who is considered to be the father of railway projects in India is opposed tooth and nail to this project - unprofessional project management and incapable technical expertise.

Inexperienced professionals are heading the project. The project said to cost INR 64,000 crores and to be completed in 3 years, can never be completed as the Kerala CM only has inexperienced professionals in key positions in the organisation running the project. 

There is total lack of transparency as to the environmental damage, the undisclosed Detailed Project Report (DPR) etc. Simply said, a project of this type, the railway engineering professionals of Kerala are incapable to manage and execute. This people say is just a ploy by the CM Pinarayi Vijayan to start huge financial irregularities, corruption and to push the state into eternal state of debt. 

When the most sincere Metro man of India E Sridharan sir says the project is infeasible in Kerala, given the Madhav Gadgil report that mentions Kerala has a very precarious environmental balance, such projects should not be followed up. 

If Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is supporting that is with an eye to sell their technology and reap gains, with total disregard to the delicate environmental balance in the state, post the floods of 2018 and 2020. Hope the obstinate CM understands the gravity of the situation and pulls out of the project at the earliest not letting any unnecessary expenses on the state.

The people of Kerala do not want the citizens to be further pushed into a virtual economic spiral of debt, decay and degradation of the state. Starting a mammoth project of this size and expense, without proper planning and with an eye on the commissions behind the work allocation, the people smell inefficency and corruption in this project.

As a responsible citizen, I feel the project is being attempted to be executed with total disregard to the environment and this project should not permitted to be executed given the delicate environmental balance in Kerala. It is true we need projects to develop, but do it with transparency and include available international experts, not local party sympathisers who will waste public money and bring disrepute to the state. The CM should work for the development of the state.

George.