Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said the government was determined to adopt the “Kochi Metro route” of getting the Central government’s clearance first for the proposed Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode Light Metro projects.
He would hold a meeting with Kerala’s metro adviser E. Sreedharan in Kochi on Thursday to clear certain misgivings the latter had expressed in a letter to him about the fate of the projects.
Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju and Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed, who holds additional charge of Kochi Metro, and other officials would attend the meeting.
Mr. Chandy said Mr. Sreedharan had written to him pointing out certain ambiguities in the communications with the Central government on the Light Metro project proposals.
“As far as the government is concerned, there is absolutely no lack of clarity on the way forward for the implementation of these two projects. We want the Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode Light Metro projects. We have decided to adopt the Kochi Metro route of getting Central clearance first prior to taking other steps,” he said.
To a question on whether the Light Metro projects would require the kind of intense lobbying that went into getting sanction for the Kochi Metro project at the highest political level, that too of the Prime Minister, Mr. Chandy said his government would leave no stone unturned to get the projects through even if it required political lobbying. This was because his government did not mix politics with development, he said.
Mr. Chandy underlined the importance of Mr. Sreedharan for the Light Metro projects. Mr. Sreedharan was the mainstay for the Kochi Metro and no issue relating to it had been decided without taking him into confidence. He did not foresee any difficulty in clearing any misgivings that Mr. Sreedharan might have.
“We will continue to take Mr. Sreedharan into confidence,” he said, adding that the Kochi Metro’s review meeting would provide the best opportunity for clearing misunderstandings, if any.
