Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed, who is also in charge of Railway affairs in Kerala, has said the State would pressurise the Union government to construct the Thalassery-Mysore and the Nilambur-Nanjangud railway lines without any further delay.
Responding to a calling attention motion moved by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in the Assembly on Monday, he said the State had been able to present all its demands concerning railway development to the Union government when the Union Railway Minister convened a conference here on September 19. The Union Railway Minister had brought with him the Union Minister of State for Railways, all Railway Board members, and top officials of Indian Railways to Thiruvananthapuram for the conference. The Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues, the MPs from the State, and top State government officials presented to them “in voice” all the demands of the State. “In that way, it was a unique exercise,” Mr. Mohammed said.
He described to the Assembly everything that had transpired at the meeting. A new railway line linking Thalassery and Mysore, another linking Nilambur and Nanjangud, the Sabarimala railway line, and completion of the doubling of the lines from Ernakulam to Kayamkulam, both via Alappuzha and Kottayam, were some of the proposals Kerala had forcefully presented at the conference.
