Title - Kerala CM assures people on high speed rail project

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Tuesday assured the people of the state that his government would carry out developmental projects only with the complete satisfaction of all concerned.

The chief minister made the statement in connection with speculations surrounding a proposed high speed rail network that will stretch over 527 km between Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore in neighbouring Karnataka. The project will cost an estimated Rs.118,000 crore.

"The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is going ahead with a detailed project report. Once that is ready, only then will the alignment of the proposed project will be made out and before that is finally cleared, we will hold discussions with people's representatives and all issues will be discussed transparently," said Chandy.

He made this clarification after protests erupted in certain areas over speculation that the project would require a huge amount of land to be acquired.

"Vested interests have spread a wrong message that the width of the land that would be needed at each place is 110 metres. This is totally wrong as it will require just 20 metres. In places where the density of population is high, the rails would pass through tunnels and in certain areas, it would be on raised platforms and in other areas, it would be over water bodies," said Chandy.

He also pointed out that the first phase of the proposed project that extends from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi would require just 256 hectares of land to be acquired.

"This project was first put up in the 2009-10 budget speech of the then Left government which cleared the project in February 2010," added Chandy.