A road map has been worked out to commence land acquisition for SilverLine, the 529.45-km semi high speed rail (SHSR) corridor from Kochuveli to Kasaragod.
At a high-level meeting chaired by Additional Chief Secretary Satyajeet Rajan, it was decided that the Revenue Department would issue notification and grant administrative sanction within one month to set up 11 land acquisition cells and construct 10 SHSR stations. The line will traverse through 11 districts, except Alappuzha, Idukki, and Wayanad.
The meeting was held after steps for commencing acquisition of 1,383 hectares failed to take off despite the Centre giving in-principle approval for the project and the State consenting to the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and the alignment.
The notification and administrative sanction for setting up land acquisition cells is mandatory for acquiring land. Questions over the mode of land acquisition came up when the Transport Department approached the State government for sanction to set up land acquisition cells in 11 districts to acquire land. Hindrances came up despite the decision of a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in February to issue notification for acquiring land for the third and fourth rail lines.
Cost-sharing project
Valuable time is being lost as 80% of the required land has to be acquired to get external funds for the cost-sharing project between the State and Railways. The delay is despite the Union Finance Ministry guidelines that allow the executing agency to go ahead with land acquisition, sources said.
Project officials say the formal orders by the government will help them go ahead with the land acquisition even as the DPR and the alignment is awaiting the approval of the Railway Board.
Railways have already agreed to make available unused land of 200 acres in its possession in the corridors where the SHSR runs parallel to the existing line for the project.
