Kochi: The 75-km Chengannur-Sabarimala line seems to be the Railways’ choice in lieu of the Angamali line mulled decades back, media reports said.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Parliament that the proposed project from Angamaly to Erumeli was stuck due to lack of cooperation from the state government on issues like land acquisition, the reports said.
The protests against the Sabari project is one of the reasons for the Angamaly route not taking off, Vaishnav said while replying to Kodikunnil Suresh of Congress in the Lok Sabha and Harris Beeran (Muslim League) in the Rajya Sabha.
Work on preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Chengannur-Pamba track is underway, Vaishnav said.
The Railways have given permission to conduct the location survey of the Pampa to Chengannur line, the Minister said.
“The alignment of this track is ready and the location survey will enable preparation of the DPR,” Vaishnaw said.
He said that the Left government has not responded to the K-Rail suggestion to make its contribution to the Sabari project under revised estimate Rs 3,726.95 crore.
The K-rail had submitted it to the state government on December 15, 2023.
“Work on the 7-km Angamaly-Kalady and 10-km Kalady-Perumbavoor stretches were started,” but could not proceed, he said.
The alignment of the decades old Sabari project covers Kalady, Perumbavoor, Odakkali, Kothamangalam, Muvattupuzha, Thodupuzha, Karinkunnam, Ramapuram, Bharananganam, Chelamattom and Kanjirappally.
The failure of the state government to acquire land was the main obstacle for railway development in Kerala, he said.
On delay over Alappuzha-Ernakulam doubling work, Vaishnaw said the state had acquired only 62.83 hectares of the 459.54 hectares required for it despite the Railways granting Rs 2,125.61 crore to Kerala.
He said this while responding to Congress keader K C Venugopal’s query.
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