Kerala opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala stated that the state government is proceeding with many projects without obtaining permission from the centre and environment board. The semi-high speed railway was introduced sabotaging the bullet train project ideated by the previous UDF government. This was rejected by the central government, Chennithala said.
The previous government had started Thiruvananthapuram-Kozhikode Light Metro and this was cancelled by this government. They announce huge projects without doing anything and bring consultancies and take commission from this. This has become a regular style of the government.
The chief minister laid the foundation stone for Wayanad tunnel road recently. The Union Ministry of Environment has not granted approval for this. This is done with the intention to get consultancy commission. Semi-high speed railway project also is similar. It was the idea of CM’s former principal secretary Sivasankar, he alleged.
The decision to proceed with this project is a strange move. It was rejected by the Ministry of Finance. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 64,941 crore. 28 percent of the amount should be borne by the state government and 20 percent by the central government. The remaining 52 percent should be collected from various foreign agencies.
The project was rejected by the screening committee of the ministry in September. It did not get approval from the Ministry of Railways too. The government should answer why they avoided Metro Man E Sreedharan from the project, Chennithala said.
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