KASARGOD: The LDF Government has not chased away ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan from the light metro project, said PWD Minister G Sudhakaran. “No one has put him in any race nor has anyone chased him away,” the Minister said in Kasargod on Sunday.
He made the statement against the backdrop of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) pulling out of the light metro project in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. DMRC principal adviser Sreedharan had said it withdrew from the project because the state government did not sign an agreement despite multiple meetings with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the PWD Minister and secretaries of the government.
Speaking in Kasargod Sudhakaran said, “I spoke in the Assembly in Malayalam that the Centre has not yet approved the revised detailed project report. Without the Centre’s permission, none of those who are making a noise now will be with us.”
The minister said the state government would get back to Sreedharan as and when the Centre gives its approval. “No one should play politics with Sreedharan,” he said. The minister was speaking at the inauguration of the Kottappuram-Achanthurathi bridge across Thejaswini River in Nileshwaram.
The ‘longest bridge’ in the district - connecting Nileshwaram town and Cheruvathur panchayat - was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday. The 297-metres-long bridge has a 7.5m carriageway and 1.5m walkway on both sides. Apart from connecting Nileshwaram and Cheruvathur, it opens up an alternative shorter road between Payyannur and Nileshwaram.
The highway is often shut at Pallikkara level crossing, where 100 trains pass in a day.