Kochi Nagara Vikasana Samithi will organise a mass meeting at Old Railway Station premises demanding the development of the station, said P. Rajeev, MP.
Mr. Rajeev demanded that the station should be converted into a suburban hub for MEMU-passenger trains besides according heritage status to it. The railway line to Willingdon Island should be electrified and train service to the station opened, he said.
Suspicious move
He alleged that there were concerted efforts to sabotage the revival of the old railway station. People had been demanding that the station should be converted into suburban hub for the past three years. The reported statement of Union Minister K.V. Thomas that the station cannot be developed into an important station and the possibility of developing it into a passenger station could be explored was suspicious, he said.
Private participation While a proposal for developing the station into a heritage station was submitted to the authorities, some of the Union Ministers from the State campaigned for setting up a railway medical college there. As the proposal for the hospital failed to materialise, the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division came up with a proposal for developing the station with private participation on its own. No one has ever made such a proposal. A meeting convened by Mr. Thomas had also reportedly decided to develop the project with private partnership, he said.
Organisations and individuals campaigning for the station were of the view that the land of the public sector unit shall not be handed over to private groups. The statement of the Railways that the station could be developed for running only passenger trains was suspicious, he said.
