KOCHI: The Railway authorities have held the government squarely responsible for the undue delay in acquiring land for the Sabari Rail Project. Railway authorities, who sought anonymity, said the incumbent government was reluctant to shoulder financial responsibility with the Railway Board for the project as agreed upon by the previous UDF Government. The government had also conveyed its disinclination to the board, they said.
“The previous government had agreed to bear equal financial responsibility as the Railway Board. However, the incumbent government is reluctant to do so and had communicated as much to the Railway Board. The response of the board was the state will have to take equal responsibility. The budget allocations for Railways are always utilised. In this case, the money will be used through fund diversions done through proper channels,” the officers said.
“ The surveys are going on for land acquisition. There was a protest in Kottayam and we are carrying out the survey under police protection. The estimate sanction for land acquisition and follow-up works are yet to begin,” they said.
Meanwhile, Revenue(Principal Secretary) K R Jyothilal was not available for his comments on the issue. A text message seeking his comment also failed to elicit a response. According to Jose M P, Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition), the Angamaly- Kalady phase is close to being finished with track linking works going on.
“There project has a new alignment plan for which an estimate has been made and submitted. We will also need to carry out a survey by the Revenue Department after the Railways is done with its survey. We are laying stones in the realigned area and we have `60 crore fund with us now which has already been passed. There will be no lapse of the fund as far as we know,” he said.