THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Against Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s claim that state government has acquired only 13% of the land required for railway development, the state’s data suggests that the land acquisition crossed 65% of the requirement.
Railway Minister stated that the Union government had requested 471 hectares of land for railway projects in Kerala, but the state government acquired only 64 hectares. However it included the demand for 416 hectares of land required for the Angamali- Sabarimala railway line project which the Railway Ministry has frozen.
“If we exclude the land required for a frozen project the actual demand was only 60.1798 hectares. The state government has already handed over 39.6627 hectares. The rest of the land is in the advanced stage of handing over. So there is no delay as such from the part of the state government,” said an officer familiar with the development.
The state government has acquired 33 of the 40 hectares required for the Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari doubling from Rs 1,312 crore given by the Railways.
The minister-in-charge of railways in the state, V Abdurahiman, held a meeting with the district collectors and chief administrative officer of Railways to speed up the land acquisition related to the Angamali-Sabari project on November 20.
In October, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Abdurahiman met Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for the speedy execution of track doubling and Sabari rail project.