The Nilgiri-Wayanad National Highway and Railway Action Committee, which has been campaigning for the Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line, is preparing to intensify their agitation demanding not to subvert the proposed project.
Speaking to The Hindu, action committee convener T.M. Rasheed said the Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line was included in the pink book of the Ministry of Railways in 2016 and the Centre had committed to allot ₹3,000 crore for the project. Subsequently, a company had been formed with the Centre and State to execute the project.
The Railway Board had also approved a proposal to prepare a detailed project report and directed E. Sreedharan, Principal Advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), to prepare it, Mr. Rasheed said.
The estimated cost of the project was ₹4,000 crore and the State government had allocated ₹8 crore for the preliminary works.
Public Works Minister G. Sudhakarana announced the launching of the project here on February 11, 2017, and issued an order to release ₹2 crore of the ₹8 crore to the DMRC account. But, the State government froze the transaction on the same day and directed Mr. Sreedharan to conduct a feasibility study on the Thalassery-Mysuru railway line. However, the report was against the project owing to technical and financial reasons.
‘CM was misled’
The Nilambur-Nanjangud project was sabotaged after a lobby, working for the Thalassery-Mysuru railway line, misled the Chief Minister, Mr. Rasheed alleged. Te people’s representatives from the district had failed to bring the ground realities regarding the project before the Chief Minister.
The organisation, with the support of the civil society in the district, would stage a dharna in front of the collectorate here on Wednesday as part of it.
