

KOCHI: The Southern Railway has written to the transport department stating that the state government should bear the cost of setting up the land acquisition offices for the Angamaly-Erumeli Railway, for which land acquisition notification has been issued.
According to Jijo J Panachinanickal, executive member of the Sabari Railway Central Action Council, the state government had issued the land acquisition notification for the Sabari Railway project. “However, the revenue department had written to the Railways seeking clarification on who would bear the costs of opening three special tahsildar offices in Ernakulam, Idukki and Kottayam districts to conduct the land acquisition required for the project,” he said.
Now, the chief engineer of the construction department of the Southern Railway has replied to the transport department that the expenses of the offices should be included in the state government’s share.