Dream project goes out of budget

KOCHI: Lack of will by the Railway authorities has pulled the plug of yet another project, a new railway halt station near Nedumbassery.Though this project was announced in the last Railway Budget when E Ahamed was the Union Minister of State for Railways, nothing has been mentioned about it in this year’s budget. According to the Railway sources, the project which could have eased the travelling woes of the passengers coming to the Nedumbassery airport has been temporarily withdrawn. The reason cited by the Railway authorities is the shortage of funds to finance this particular project. However, this reason has been refuted by the sources within the Railways.“This reason cannot be accepted at any cost. This is a very useful project. If the Railway cannot derive the prerequisite fund, they could have gone for other options. They could have sought the aid from the General Manager, Railways, Chennai. It is the most viable alternative,” they said. They also added that this project would not require laying new railway lines.The sources also said that this project will be of immense help, once memu services start functioning. Besides, the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has also promised cab services from the halt station to the airport. “The first phase of memu services from Ernakulam to Kollam via Kottayam and Alappuzha will be inaugurated within the month of March. Passengers who have to reach Nedumbassery airport can reach this halt station by memu from Ernakulam. From there, they can take cabs,” they said. K A Johnson, who undertook this project initially, said that the Railways returned the security money which he had deposited at the inception of this project. Meanwhile, the sources within the Railways have pushed aside this reason saying the project was too big for small funding.D B Binu, General Secretary (State), Human Rights Defence Forum, said, “`93 lakh has been allocated for this project. But when we filed a RTI application, the information we received was that no amount has been earmarked for the project. Hence, for providing with false or incomplete information, we filed a complaint with Central Information Commission,” said Binu. Rajesh Agarwal, Divisional Regional Manager, Thiruvananthapuram, refused to comment on this matter.