"Using force to quell the protests against the SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project in Kerala is a grievous mistake," says Madhav Gadgil, eminent ecologist.
Dr. Gadgil, who had chaired the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, stated that "people are sovereign" in response to a query on whether the Left government, which won power for the second consecutive time in the State, is making a mistake by clamping down on the people's protests against the SilverLine project.
"Their [people's] wishes must be respected. Democracy is our greatest strength and decentralisation Kerala’s proud heritage. We should reinstate the spirit of People’s Planning Campaign of 1995-96," he told The Hindu amidst the increasing resistance by people, whose land will be acquired for the mega infra project estimated at ₹63, 940 crore project.
Dr. Gadgil said that positing of an opposition between development and environment protection is a totally false position, when reminded about the government's firm resolve that the State required developmental projects like the semi-high-speed rail corridor.
Stating that the country will see a turn-around only when there is equitable sharing of the humongous costs of environmental degradation for which the biosphere people are primarily responsible, Dr. Gadgil said that these costs are growing day by day has been strikingly brought home by the recent landslides of Puthumala, Pettimudi, and Koottickal in Kerala.
"The most frequent victims of environmental degradation are the ecosystem people and environmental refugees, but they still pull together with the more fortunate classes of Indian society, as was vividly apparent in the catastrophic ‘flood of the century’ that hit Kerala in 2018. As almost the entire State went under water, the fishermen came out in their hundreds, with their simple fishing boats, which made the difference between life and death for millions who were stranded in their homes," he said.
Dr. Gadgil pointed out that it is all very well to salute the fishermen or give them jobs for their selfless service. "But what is clearly needed is to stop displacing them for projects like the Vizhinjam port and ruin fishing by continuing pollution of coastal waters, mining of beach sand, and encroachment on mangrove swamps, the nursery grounds for fishes, to construct luxury apartments. There are signs that the fisherfolk and other ecosystem people and ecological refugees are beginning to stand up and insist on justice and equity; it is they who can steer the country towards becoming people- and nature-friendly. They have been handicapped all these years through being unorganised and uninformed," he said.
