Title - Kaniyoor line from Kanhangad: Bansal

Uncertainty following the Railway Budget proposal to start a survey from Kottikulam for the Kanhangad-Kaniyoor railway line has ended with Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal promising to take up the work from here as charted in an earlier survey.The line will reduce the time required to go from here to Bangalore to six hours from the present 15.The Minister gave the assurance to a delegation, in the presence of P.C. Chacko, MP, in New Delhi on Sunday, M.C. Jose, executive member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, said at a press conference here on Monday.Kottikulam is 14 km from here, and the proposal led to fear that starting the survey from there will delay the project, the delegation, led by Mr. Jose, told the Minister.The team told Mr. Bansal that a feasibility and traffic survey on the 40-km Kanhangad-Panathur line had been completed two years ago. The Minister said the work would follow the earlier survey once the Planning Commission gave its approval in principle for the project. The Railway Ministry had asked the Karnataka government to take up the survey for the 31-km Panathur-Kaniyoor line.The Railway Budget proposal had given rise to speculation over moves to delay or scuttle the project, which is expected to give a fillip to economic activity in the socially backward area. The announcement gave credence to suspicion of a move to delay the project, Mr. Jose had said in a letter to the Railway Minister on Saturday. The Minister, in a letter to Mr. Chacko on January 14, had said the Ministry had sought concurrence of the Planning Commission to start work on the Kanhangad-Panathur line, Mr. Jose said.