Vaishnaw writes to Pinarayi Vijayan over land acquisition delays in Kerala
Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Kerala government’s support was essential and requested Vijayan to instruct the concerned officers to expedite the land acquisition
Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has written to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the slow progress of projects due to land acquisition delays in the southern state.
He said railway infrastructure projects costing ₹12,350 crore were in progress in Kerala and the highest-ever budget outlay of ₹3,011 crore was allotted for the FY 2024-25. “However, most of the railway projects in Kerala are not progressing due to non-availability of requisite land,” Vaishnaw said in a letter on Tuesday. HT has seen a copy of the letter.
Vaishnaw said the railways initiated efforts for land acquisition for most of the sanctioned railway projects but could not succeed. “Despite making payment of more than ₹2,100 Crore to the Government of Kerala for the required land of about 470 Ha, only 64 Ha land could be acquired.”
Vaishnaw wrote seven kilometres of land acquisition was pending for the Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari track doubling project and five kilometres of the Kumbalam-Turavur track doubling. He added only 24 Ha out of the total 416 Ha could be acquired for the Angamali-Sabarimala new line.
Vaishnaw said the Kerala government’s support was essential. He requested Vijayan to instruct the concerned officers to expedite the land acquisition so that the execution of the projects could be taken up. Vaishnaw said this was despite the central government providing over ₹2,100 crore to the state for land acquisition.
There was no immediate response from the Kerala government. The copy will be updated when it responds.