Title - Forum plea to start work of coach factory

The Kanjikode Industries Forum has urged the Railways to start the construction of the Railway Coach Factory at Kanjikode for which the foundation stone was laid one-and-a-half-years ago.Addressing media persons here on Friday, forum office-bearers said the coach factory was announced in the 2008-09 railway budget but the work had not yet started. The State government had handed over 92.04 hectares of land to the Railways two years ago.The Railways also received a proposal for joint venture with Steel Authority of India (SAIL) that had promised to complete the project within two years. But the Railways had not yet accepted the SAIL proposal. Instead it had gone for global tenders seeking a private partner to implement the project, they said.The forum leaders said this would further delay the Rs.550-crore project. The project at Rai Bareli announced along with the Kanjikode factory had started rolling out coaches. But the factory promised for Palakkad had not become a reality yet, they said.The forum leaders urged the Union Ministers and the MPs from Kerala to take a united stand to put pressure on the Union government and Railways to end the uncertainty over the factory.

Delegation to Delhi

A delegation of the forum would visit Delhi to meet the Railway Minister and Union Ministers from Kerala to urge them to take up the matter with the Prime Minister, they said.

The forum was ready to cooperative with political parties and other organisations to launch mass agitations for the factory. They said the industrial units at Kanjikode were paying an annual tax of Rs.200 crore to the government. But many of the units were in crisis.