Do not entangle Nemon in political fights

A controversy erupted after Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw refused to meet the three Kerala ministers who reached Delhi to raise the railway development issues of the state, including Nemom Terminal. The complaint was raised by the state ministers who had to return to Kerala after handing over the petition to the Minister of State and the departmental minister's office. However, it is not clear whether the Kerala ministers went to Delhi after receiving an official message from the Railway Minister's office informing them of the time for the meeting. Earlier, two Left MPs are said to have received permission for the meeting verbally. However, one must remember that this is a procedural matter. The state ministers are very much aware that they can set out for such meetings only after fixing the time and date. An investigation can be conducted to find out where the lapse occurred. There is a special system for this in Delhi under the leadership of a high official. It is the responsibility of the state government to investigate any lapses in the duties of this officer.

All we need is to implement Nemom Terminal anyway. The state government should do whatever it can for that. The ministers can still visit the Railway Minister after taking prior permission and present the matter.

The demand for Nemom Terminal has been in front of the Railway Department for years. It was also approved in one of the previous railway budgets. There were several announcements from the railway ministers. Even the foundation stone was formally laid. However, the terminal development did not take place. The idea to develop Nemom station as a terminal came up as the Thiruvananthapuram Central Station is so cramped that it cannot be developed anymore. A lot of lands was also acquired for this purpose. The situation of blocking the sanctioning of new trains has been going on for years as there is no space to install more lines at the central station. There will be a significant change if the terminal station at Nemom comes up along with the development of Kochuveli as a satellite station. It is not clear why the Railway Board is neglecting this development project which can be done easily without spending much money.

The Centre has not even officially communicated to the state government the reason for issuing the statement that the Nemom terminal project was abandoned. When the three ministers from Kerala met the Minister of State for Railways the other day, they were told that the project was not abandoned. If the project has not been abandoned, then the people of the state want to know why no steps have been taken to bring it to work. Those who are obstructing development projects by entangling them in politics are doing a great disservice to the people. Kerala should copy Tamil Nadu's approach of setting political differences aside and working together to achieve more development projects.