Kerala govt using false data to push SilverLine project, says disaster management expert

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared for the SilverLine project is under a cloud as a domain expert has questioned the veracity of the data used to justify the project. While the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala is doing its best to push the semi-high speed rail corridor, that promises a journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod in just four hours, former member of State Disaster Management Authority K G Thara has pointed out several inconsistencies in the Detailed Project Report (DPR). K G Thara, who also headed Kerala’s Disaster Management Centre, counters some of the data mentioned in DPR and her findings reveal that some of data used to rationalise the project, has been manipulated.

Systra, a multinational engineering and consulting group in the mobility sector based in France, prepared the DPR for the Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail). Speaking to TNM, Thara says she cross checked the sources where Systra obtained its data from, and found that it was quite different from the data that made its way to the DPR. “The DPR mentions that the data has been sourced from a book on High Speed Rail Technology compiled by Mr Gaurav Agarwal, Director (Efficiency and Research), Ministry of Railways. The book was published in 2011. The data mentioned in DPR says that China has 19,369 kms of high speed railway route. But Agarwal’s book mentions that China has only 6,652 kms of highway rails. The Netherlands has only 100 kms as per Agarwal's book, but the DPR claims it is 1,200 kms. What they (Systra) have done with the DPR is unethical,” she said.

The DPR claims that road accidents in Kerala are among the nation’s highest and the state stands third. It also says that larger states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan report far less accidents compared to Kerala and also justifies the project saying railway accidents are very less compared to road accidents. “I cross checked the 2018 data from the Union Transport Ministry and found that the accident rate is higher in UP, Gujarat and a few other states compared to Kerala. In South India, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of cases, while Karnataka has almost the same numbers as Kerala. There are many mismatches like this,” KG Thara said.

The DPR also says that Kerala has one of highest numbers in vehicle density (the number of vehicles per 1000 people) and road accidents. The report quotes 2018 data and says that the vehicle density in Kerala is 361, while in the country it is 170. “When I checked the central government data, the country’s average is 210, so they reduced it to show Kerala has a huge density,” she said..

She also points out that the DPR does not in any way provide any clarification on environmental concerns over  SilverLine. “The construction of embankments (huge walls) requires about 9 metres of digging. Viaducts (huge pillar supported bridges) are huge constructions using cement. In many places they mention digging anywhere from 9 to 20 metres. This will adversely impact the groundwater table. This is not a haritha (environment friendly) project as the government claims. All these can trigger landslides,” she said.

The railway lines cutting across the floodplains (flat area of a land next to a river stream) are also a cause for concern as they are likely to trigger floods in the state. “No construction should take place near floodplains. There is a floodplain zoning legislation, but nobody notices that,” she pointed out..

Earlier environmentalists had pointed out that the huge compensation offered by the government to the people who will lose their properties, did not match the amount quoted in DPR.