UDF holds State-wide protest against SilverLine
The Hindu
It will turn out to be an economic, social, and environmental disaster, says Sudhakaran
The Congress-led United Democratic Front on Saturday held State-wide protests against the Left Democratic Front government's flagship SilverLine rail corridor project alleging it was "unscientific" and "impractical".
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan launched the protest in Ernakulam and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief K. Sudhakaran inaugurated the event in front of the Secretariat here. Various UDF leaders led protests in the headquarters of 10 districts through which the project would pass.
SilverLine is aimed at setting up 529.45 km of rail corridor connecting Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod, reducing the travel time to just four hours.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.