NEW DELHI: A team of BJP representatives held a meeting with the union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav, demanding not to sanction the implementation of the state government’s K-Rail project. Union deputy minister V Muraleedharan, BJP state president K Surendran, E Sreedharan and senior leader Kummanam Rajashekharan were among the team that met the minister.

The K-Rail project will be a major setback for Kerala’s economy. Moreover, the project will negatively impact the environment. It will also result in the emptying of the state treasury, argued the representatives. E Sreedharan explained about the technical faults in the project. The meeting went on for about 20 minutes. Following which, the team informed about meeting the media.

Last day, the centre had pointed out that the detailed project report (DPR) submitted by Kerala was incomplete and hence the project cannot be immediately granted approval. The DPR does not clarify whether the project is technically and economically feasible or not. Environmental impact study has also not been conducted, considering which approval cannot be granted. The union railway minister had explained this in response to the questions raised in Lok Sabha by MPs from Kerala namely N K Premachandran and K Muraleedharan. The technical feasibility report is not included in DPR. No data is shown about the land that needs to be claimed. A decision can be taken only after checking all these data, the railway ministry had informed.