Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan meets PM Modi in Delhi

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital. This comes just a day after the Kerala Chief Minister informed that the land acquisition process for the Kochi-Bangalore Industrial Corridor, a leap forward in the industrial sector of Kerala, is progressing rapidly.

New Delhi: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday in the national capital. The Chief Minister will hold a press conference at 4 pm today at Conference hall, Kerala House.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Vijayan called on the prime minister. The PMO also tweeted pictures of the meeting. According to reports, Vijayan was expected to discuss various issues related to Kerala, including about SilverLine. Also, known as the K-Rail project, it is a joint venture of the Kerala government and the Railway Ministry. Kerala is awaiting approval from the central government for the project.

This comes just a day after the Kerala Chief Minister informed that the land acquisition process for the Kochi-Bangalore Industrial Corridor, a leap forward in the industrial sector of Kerala, is progressing rapidly. Further, this meeting holds crucial importance as several people across Kerala are protesting against the SilverLine project. The first major protest happened in Kottayam's Madampally on March 18.

Vijayan earlier this month said that Left Democratic Front (LDF) led Kerala government will implement the SilverLine project while assuring that the state government would pay four times the prevailing market prices as compensation for acquiring land.

The 529-km SilverLine railway project will link Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasaragod in north Kerala, covering 11 districts through 11 stations. The journey between two stations is expected to take four hours, whereas it currently takes 12 hours to reach from one end to another.

It is also being opposed by the opposition Congress-led UDF, which has been alleging that the project is "unscientific and impractical" and will put a huge financial burden on the state.