KOCHI: ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan on Monday accused the Kerala government of sabotaging the Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line, saying that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan failed to mention the nod granted to the project by the Centre and Karnataka, during his meeting with Karnataka counterpart Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday..
“Kerala sabotaged the project to push for the CM’s favourite Thalassery-Mysuru line,” alleged the former MD of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), while terming the latter project “unviable” Sreedharan’s remarks came a day after Karnataka rejected three railway projects — Nilambur-Nanjangud, Thalassery-Mysuru and Kanhangad-Kaniyur — proposed by Kerala.
The Nilambur project was cleared by the Railway ministry and included in the 2013 railway budget for carrying out final location survey, he said. “The then UDF government engaged DMRC for the survey and sanctioned Rs 6 crore. It also released Rs 2 crore to the treasury for passing on to DMRC as the first installment. However, when the LDF came to power in 2016, it stopped DMRC from going ahead with the work and withdrew the sanctioned amount from the treasury,” said Sreedharan.
He recalled having discussions with the chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden of Karnataka and obtaining their nod, provided the railway line passed through an underground tunnel below the wildlife sanctuary.
Thalassery line financially unviable, says Sreedharan
“I then met the Karnataka chief secretary and then CM Siddaramaiah, who agreed to the project. The Karnataka government order (dated 08-11-2017) confirmed this later,” Sreedharan said. He said he had studied and given a preliminary report saying the Thalassery-Mysuru line would be of no use to Kerala and was unviable with financial returns of -8%.
“Did the Kerala CM tell his Karnataka counterpart that the Nilambur-Nanjangud line reduces the rail distance from Kochi to Mysuru by 348km and from Kochi to Bengaluru by 72km, and that it had already been cleared by the Karnataka government?” he asked.
Such a line was strategically very important to Karnataka as it would get one more access point to the sea through Kochi and Vizhinjam ports, said Sreedharan, who had contested on a BJP ticket in the 2021 Kerala assembly elections.