Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Tuesday wrote a letter to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urging him to expedite the land acquisition for the development of railways. The letter also stated that railway development is not progressing in Kerala due to the lack of land acquisition. A total of 470 hectares of land is required for Kerala’s railway development. So far, acquisition has been carried out for only 64 hectares. This is despite Rs 2,100 crore having been awarded to the state for this purpose.
The railways are carrying out Rs 12,350 crore worth of developmental activities in the state, which is an all-time high amount. Rs 3,011 crore has been allocated for the period 2024-2025 in the budget for the state.
The railway’s letter contains details of the land requirements for four major railway development projects in the state. These include the doubling of the Tiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari, Ernakulam-Kumbalam, Kumbalam-Thuravoor, and Angamaly-Sabarimala routes. The Angamaly-Sabarimala route requires 416 hectares of land, but so far only 24 hectares have been acquired. This means that another 392 hectares are required. Rs 282 crore has already been allocated for this purpose.
The Tiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari doubling requires 40 hectares, with 23 hectares acquired so far. A total of Rs 1,312 crore has been given to the state government for this. The Ernakulam-Kumbalam doubling requires 4 hectares, with 2 hectares already acquired. Rs 262 crore has already been allocated. The Kumbalam-Thuravoor doubling requires 10 hectares, with 5 hectares acquired. Rs 248 crore has been given to the state government for this as well.
The letter stresses that the cooperation of the state government is essential for the land acquisition. The minister has asked the chief minister to instruct the concerned officers to expedite the process.
Railway development will play a significant role in the growth of Kerala’s economy. The Union Railway Minister has previously made it clear that the railways are not able to acquire the necessary land in the state for development. The minister resorted to writing the letter as previous verbal requests had not been heeded.
It is worth noting that Pinarayi Vijayan and the leaders of the entire ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) have been consistently complaining that the central government is neglecting the state and its interests.
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