The government will step up pressure on the Centre to reverse its decision on dropping the proposal to establish a railway coach factory at Kanjikode in Palakkad, Minister in charge of Railways G. Sudhakaran informed the Assembly on Wednesday.
Replying to a submission moved by V.S. Achuthanandan, he said the Union Railway Minister’s announcement in Parliament on dropping the project had triggered widespread protests in the State. Efforts were on by the Chief Minister, MPs from the State and officials to exert pressure on Railways to pursue the long-pending project. Mr. Sudhakaran said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal against his announcement on dropping the project.
“The Centre has given up the Kanjikode project even as a coach factory at Rae Bareilly has already been commissioned by Railways and a similar project for Chennai is being considered. The Railway Minister’s announcement has come as a shock for Kerala. It reflects the negligence towards the State,” he said.
Mr. Sudhakaran said the Railway Minister had later backtracked on his announcement following pressure from the State.
Moving the submission, Mr. Achuthanandan said the Central government had dashed the hopes of the State. “The announcement came after the government had acquired 230 acres of land and created the necessary infrastructure for the project which would have created a large number of jobs in the State. It has let down the people of Kerala,” he said.
Later, replying to another submission by I.B. Satheesh, the Minister said the government would exert pressure on the Centre not to hive off Tirunelveli from the Thiruvananthapuram railway division. “We have received an assurance from Railways that there is no move in this direction.”
Mr. Sudhakaran said Railways had been consistently negligent towards Kerala and even worked against the State’s interests. “There has been no response towards our repeated demand to set up a peninsular railway zone for Kerala.”