'Centre to give priority for Kottayam, Alappuzha track doubling'

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 9. The Union Minister of State for Railways, Mr. O. Rajagopal, has said that the Centre would give equal priority for doubling the Kottayam and Alappuzha lines.

Inaugurating the valedictory function of the seminar on `Rail development - Kerala 2025' organised by the Malayala Manorama, here today, the Minister said that considering the 135 per cent capacity utilisation of the Kottayam line and 105 per cent of the Alappuzha line, the Centre cannot delay the doubling work anymore. But the completion of the work would be subject to the availability of funds, he said.

The Railway Ministry needs Rs.22,000 crores to complete the new works taken up. This is against the budgetary allocation of Rs.700 to Rs.800 crores. Till 1995, the Government had to pay Rs.10,000 crores as salary to the 16 lakh employees of the Railways. With the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission report, this amount has increased to Rs.18,000 crores. Added to this is the oil price hike, he said.

The concept that the Centre was neglecting Kerala in the railway sector is baseless. The budgetary allocation for the State has increased from Rs.89 crores to Rs.205 crores now. While work on 10 railway bridges along the National Highway has been taken up, the electrification of the Chennai-Ernakulam main line has been completed. A Rs. 147-crore scheme for electrifying the Alappuzha and Kottayam lines has been okayed, he said.

The Centre is aware of the importance of doubling the Mangalapuram-Thiruvananthapuram line. Work on the Kuttipuram- Kozhikode and Kozhikode-Malappuram stretches would be completed in a year's time. Though there is a 10 per cent cut in non-plan expenditure, this has not affected the developmental works, he said.

The Minister sought the cooperation of the State Government to implement developmental works. The Centre was ready to consider any firm proposal from the State Government to lay a connecting link between Edappally and Vallarpadom where the container terminal has been planned to be set up. He called for an integrated rail-road approach for development. The Railway was ready to give its land for the KSRTC to use as bus stands. But, the State Government should return the land to the Railways if needed, he said.

There are plans to develop 10 stations including Thiruvananthapuram as model stations. Budgetary hotels would be opened in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kottayam, he said. Kerala should emulate the model of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in forming the Railway Infrastructure Development Corporation to augment railway development in the State, he said.

The Transport Minister, Mr. C.K. Nanu, in his presidential address, said that the Government was ready to open KSRTC and private bus stands near railway stations if the Railway was ready to give land. Without track doubling, generating profit by running more goods trains along with passenger trains would be difficult, he said.

The managing editor, Malayala Manorama, Mr. Philip Mathew, welcomed and the associate editor, Mr.Thomas Jacob, proposed a vote of thanks.

Earlier, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director, Mr. E. Sreedharan, in his paper on `Rapid intercity transport and railway modernisation in Kerala,' said a special purpose vehicle under the name, Kerala Railway Development Corporation, with equal participation of the State and Central Governments should be formed as a registered company to speed up railway development in Kerala.

Apart from the works which have been already sanctioned but not taken up by the Railways in the State, all other developmental works should be handled by the corporation. About 50 per cent of the cost of such schemes should be borne by the State Government and the remaining 50 per cent by the Railway Ministry through the annual budget, he said.

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