KOZHIKODE: While the state government is slow pedaling procedures in sanctioning the funds for the Nilambur-Nanjangud railway project, the UDF has decided to intensify its agitation against the state government on the issue. I. C. Balakrishnan, MLA, will lead an indefinite hunger strike in front of the state secretariat in August in which representatives of Malappuram and Wayanad District Congress Committees will participate. The MLA told DC that the move was in the wake of meticulous attempts by a lobby in the CPM to torpedo the Wayanad railway project.
On July 22, the UDF will conduct a hunger strike in Sulthan Bathery heralding the agitation. Later a relay-hunger strike also would be held in front of the collectorate at Kalpetta, he said. It is to be recalled that the project was the first in the priority list submitted by the former UDF government to the railway ministry from the state. The union government had earmarked funds for the project. Though the LDF government had allotted Rs 8 crore to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to prepare the Detailed Project Report, the finance department failed to release the funds.
There was a widespread feeling in Wayand that the Kannur lobby of the LDF government was putting its weight behind the Thallassery- Mysore railway line and therefore were derailing the procedural progress of the Wayanad rail project, Mr Balakrishnan said. The Nilambur- Nanjangode railway line for which the survey began in 1882, has been a point of discussion in rail circles for more than a century. The last survey was conducted in 2004 and the railway board had submitted the report to the planning commission after detailed perusal.
