ABASS call to set up Sabari Rail Corporation

Centre urged not to shelve project

The Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom (ABASS) has called upon the Union government to constitute a separate Sabari Rail Corporation aimed at bringing south India’s major pilgrim centre of Sabarimala on the railway map.

Talking to The Hindu , ABASS national vice-president D. Vijayakumar and general secretary N. Velayudhan Nair said the alleged sidelining of the much sought-after Sabari rail project by setting apart Rs.5 crore in the Union Budget was unfortunate.

Mr. Vijayakumar said he had submitted a memorandum to the Union Minister for Railways three months ago seeking the Centre’s intervention in constructing a rail line linking Chengannur with Pampa as suggested by an expert panel in 2006.

Mr. Vijayakumar said Railways had conducted a feasibility survey of the proposed Chengannur-Pampa Sabari rail project in 2006.

The survey team found the proposed project feasible and practical as nearly 60-km stretch on the route was not populated. Mr. Vijayakumar said the previous Union government had promised to pursue the project against the backdrop of land acquisition hurdles in the path of the Angamaly-Erumeli Sabari rail project. The proposed Chengannur-Pampa rail route would pass through Aranmula, Kozhencherry, Ranni, Vadasserikkara, Perinad, and Kanamala. The project, he said, was under serious consideration of the erstwhile Planning Commission.

The ABASS leader urged the Union government not to shelve the project.

Rs.5.5-crore revenue

Mr. Vijayakumar said official sources had put the revenue collection at the Chengannur railway station during the two-month previous Sabarimala pilgrim season at Rs.5.5 crore.

Chengannur also topped in terms of revenue collection during the previous Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season, with Kottayam in second place, he said.

He said the proposed Sabari Rail Corporation should be on the lines of the Konkan Railway Corporation. The Union government should have 51 per cent stake in the proposed corporation, while Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh should have the remaining stake. Though Railways had declared Chengannur the ‘Gateway of Sabarimala,’ the station lacked facilities such as uninterrupted water supply, a safe and clean food court, pilgrim shelters, and so on, Mr. Vijayakumar alleged.