Sabari rail project: Union Min pins blame on Kerala govt's delay in land acquisition

New Delhi: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday that the Kerala government has not been very cooperative on railway projects, highlighting that much more could be accomplished in the state with government support for land acquisition. The Railways Minister's comments were made during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, in response to questions about the proposed Angamali-Sabarimala railway line project, which was sanctioned in 1997-98.

"It is a complex project and the cooperation of the state government is required to be able to take this project forward," Vaishnaw said and added that a new alignment is being assessed.

The proposed railway line is about 111 km and the project along the old alignment is about 35 km short of the Sabarimala shrine.

"There is a public demand for an alternative alignment from Chenganoor to Pamba, which is shorter at around 75 km. The new alignment is only about 4 km short of the shrine. A decision has to be taken in discussion with MPs and the state government on whether the old alignment should be done or the new alignment.

"The detailed assessment of the new alignment is going on. Once it is done, a final call can be taken," the minister said.

According to the minister, further works on the project could not be taken forward due to protests by local people against land acquisition and fixing of alignment of the line, court cases filed against the project and inadequate support from the Kerala government.

Responding to a supplementary from Congress member Adoor Prakash, Vaishnaw said, "I would like to place on record that the Kerala government has not been very cooperative on railway projects. I request the MPs to use their good offices to get the support for land acquisition... projects can be taken up only if the state government supports land acquisition".

Further, the minister said that a lot more can be done in Kerala if the "state government supports us".

On whether the government proposes to conduct a feasibility study for extending Angamali-Sabarimala railway line from Erumeli to Vizhinjam International Seaport, Vaishnaw said the port has no connection with the Erumeli line and that the nearest rail head to the port is Nemom.

The minister also said that though fund allocation has increased manifold but pace of execution of project is dependent on expeditious land acquisition.

He highlighted that fund allocation for the railways in Kerala has increased substantially since 2014 and the average outlay stood at Rs 2,033 crore in 2023-24 compared to Rs 372 crore annually during 2009-14 period.
(With PTI inputs.)