Kerala minister seeks funds from railway ministry

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: PWD minister G Sudhakaran, in charge of state railway, has written to Union railway minister Piyush Goyal requesting for allocation funds for the development of the proposed coaching terminal at Nemom and doubling of rail line of Trivandrum Central-Parassala stretch.
The foundation stone for new coaching terminal at Nemom and the doubling work from Thiruvananthapuram to Kanyakumari was laid by the Union minister in March 2019. “In the 83 km Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari stretch, Thiruvananthapuram-Parassala section (31km) needs 34.60 hectors for the doubling project in Kerala. The government of Kerala has given administrative approval for land acquisition for the entire stretch and can complete the land acquisition as soon as funds are provided by the railways. An allotment of Rs 207 crore is required for land acquisition to an extent of 14.84 hectares from Thiruvananthapuram Central to Nemom and further from Nemom to Parassala till the end of the stretch in Kerala state,” the minister said in his letter.
“The funds already provided in the current year budget for Rs 133 crore is under external borrowing resources and hence can’t be used for land acquisition. Social impact assessment has been completed by the government of Kerala from Trivandrum Central to Nemom. Allotment of funds for the project to be tune of Rs 207 crore may be done immediately so that land acquisition can progress. The completion of Trivandrum-Nemom doubling and commission of Nemom terminal would help to ease the heavy traffic congestion in Trivandrum Central and additional trains can be introduced towards north Kerala and rest of India,” the minister said in his letter.