A high-profile meeting held between Chief Ministers of Kerala and Karnataka in Bengaluru on Sunday reportedly failed to live up to the Kerala’s expectation in terms of an infra leap.
After the meeting with Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated that both governments had agreed to approach the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to implement the alignments from Tholpetti to Purakattiri and Sulthan Bathery to Malappuram of the Mysore-Malappuram Economic Corridor project as an alternative to the NH 766, where night time travel curbs are in force as it passed through the tiger reserve.
The Chief Minister’s office also stated that Mr. Bommai had agreed to examine the proposed Kanhangad- Panathur- Kaniyoor railway line project, which will connect north Kerala and south Karnataka.
The Karnataka government would seriously consider providing the requisite financial assistance for the project, the statement said. However, the office was silent on extending the SilverLine semi-high-speed railway project to Mangaluru from Kasaragod, though it was widely reported that it would be at the top of the agenda during the discussion.
The State government had been lobbying for the project for the past few years and it was discussed during the South Zonal Council meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram a week ago.
However, the reports from Karnataka stated that it turned down the key infrastructure proposals of Kerala, raising environmental concerns.
Addressing reporters after the meeting in Bengaluru, Mr. Bommai said the proposed Kanhangad- Kaniyoor rail line project discussed in the meeting would not benefit Karnataka in a big way. The project which had a 40 km route in Kerala and 31 km in Karnataka would pass through the rich bio-diversity and ecologically sensitive areas of the Western Ghats and it was not possible for Karnataka to extend cooperation for this project.
In the case of Thalassery- Wayanad- Mysuru railway line, the proposed project would pass through Bandipur- Nagarhole National Parks which is expected to cause great damage to flora and fauna in the region. So it was not possible to give permission for the project, Mr. Bommai said.
The proposal to construct an underground rail route by Kerala was also rejected by Karnataka raising environmental concerns. The State’s request to operate four buses instead of the present two buses operated during the night through Bandipur National Highway was also rejected by Karnataka.
