Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan termed as "politically motivated" and "baseless" union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's remark in Parliament that "inadequate support" from the Kerala Government was one of the reasons for the inordinate delay in the Angamali-Erumeli-Sabrimala line, Sabari Rail, that was sanctioned in 1997-98.
"The union minister is trying to mislead the people," the Chief Minister told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. "The state government has been consistently offering support ever since the project was announced in the 1997-98 Union Budget. Land acquisition along the 70-km Angamaly-Ramapuram stretch has also begun. We had even assured to bear half the land acquisition costs. The negligence was on the part of the Railways," the CM said.
The union minister, on his part, blamed the Kerala government. "The execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully of partly in the State of Kerala is held up due to delay in land acquisition and only about 62.83 hectares of land has been acquired out of total requirement of about 459.54 Ha," the union minister told the Lok Sabha on August 7.
He said the Railway acquired land through the State Government. "The State Government assesses the compensation amount and advises the Railway. On receipt of demand from State Government, Railway deposits compensation amount with the concerned district land acquisition authority," Vaishnaw said.
The union minister further said that the Railway had not succeeded in acquiring land for projects though Rs 2125.61 crore had been transferred o Kerala for land acquisition. "Support of the Government of Kerala is needed to expedite the land acquisition," he said.
Pinarayi said that it was factually wrong for the union minister to claim that Rs 2125 crore had been given to Kerala for land acquisition required for Sabari Rail. He said the amount was for the land acquisition for various railway projects, and not Sabari Rail alone. In fact, the union minister did not claim that the amount was exclusively for Sabari rail. He had specifically said "projects" in his Parliament reply.
Nonetheless, Pinarayi insisted that it was the indifference of the Centre that had led to the project cost inflating to Rs 3811 crore from Rs 2815 crore. "Now, after causing all the delay, the Centre says that Kerala should bear 36% of the increased estimate," the CM said.
The union railway minister, on the contrary, said that Kerala had not even responded to the revised estimate placed before it. He said the estimated cost of the project has been revised to Rs 3726.95 crore by Kerala Rail Development Corporation Ltd, and submitted before the Kerala Government on December 15, 2023. The Centre had also sought Kerala's willingness to share cost of the project. "However, Government of Kerala has not communicated their views so far," Vaishnaw said.
Pinarayi said that Kerala was ready to bear even 50% of the increase in the estimated cost if the Centre refrained from their attempts to undermine Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) by including its borrowings within Kerala's open market borrowing limit.
The proposed alignment of the project passes through through Kaladi, Perumbavoor, Odakkali, Kothamangalam, Muvattupuzha, Thodupuzha, Karimkunnam, Ramapuram, Bharananganam, Chemmalamattom, and Kanjirappilly.
However, the Centre is now looking at a new and shorter alignment, a shorter route to reach Sabarimala from Chengannur. The Centre has already sanctioned the final Location Survey for Chengannur - Pamba (75 Km) new line. The survey of said work has been taken up for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR).
Pinarayi said that Kerala would provide all support for the new line, too.
