120 hectares for Vizhinjam terminal: Kerala govt

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 19: On Wednesday, Nov 19 the Kerala government gave its approval to acquire 120 hectares of land for the development of roads, railway line, work yard and work area for the Vizhinjam International Deep Sea Container Trans-shipment Terminal.

Briefing reporters after a Cabinet meeting, Chief Minsiter V S Achuthanandan said the earlier notification in regards to the land acquisition was cancelled after taking into account the report of a high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary, which looked into the complaints regarding land acquisition for the proposed terminal.

Stating that the government wanted to launch the project at the earliest, Mr Achuthanandan said it was doing everything to facilitate development of infrastructure for the project.

The state government had earlier announced that 1,088 hectares of land were needed for the project in and around Vizhinjam. This led to wide spread protest from the local people raising complaints that the procedure lacked transparency.

It was also decided to request the Centre again for a CBI inquiry into the Marad communal massacre, in which 14 people were killed. The entire conspiracy behind the massacre, stocking of explosives, influence of outside forces and large-scale flow of money should have to be investigated, he added.

He also said it was decided to acquire 104 hectares of land for developing a Life Science Park in Veyiloor village near here.

UNI