Vattavila Suresh Road:Railways agrees to build road on land it took over

Thiruvananthapuram: Southern Railway promised to construct a pucca road along Vattavila Suresh Road, part of which state govt took over and transferred to railways for line-doubling work near Nemom railway station. A representative of railways informed district administration that Southern Railway was ready to construct a tarred road on the land under its custody and hand it over to Thiruvananthapuram corporation for future maintenance. State govt had taken over a portion of Vattavila Suresh Road and transferred the same to railways after receiving over Rs 1.15 crore in advance, brewing public protest.
The railway representative informed its willingness to construct a narrow road of 3m-width at a hearing held at the chamber of Thiruvananthapuram district deputy collector (LA) on Feb 19. This followed petitions submitted by Nemom action council to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and land revenue commissioner Jeevan Babu. The railway authorities initially declined the demand for a pucca alternative road in lieu of the public road residents of Vattavila Suresh Road lost for rail development work. However, they appeared to change their stand following BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar's intervention.The representative initially revealed at the hearing that it was ready to construct the road and let residents use it without restrictions, but they failed to give assurances regarding its maintenance. They said city corporation may take possession of the railway road on lease. The railway divisional office has the authority to sanction the same if the city corporation submitted a formal request, the railway representative added.The office of special tahsildar (land acquisition) that took over the public road without making adequate alternative facilities, however, refused to admit its lapses. The representative of the special tahsildar said the public road was taken over by the office as it was part of the land parcels marked for acquisition for railway purposes. The special tahsildar earlier furnished multiple reports to higher-ups without acknowledging the fact that it took over around 10 cents of public road at the beginning of Vattavila Suresh Road, without making an alternative mechanism for the road handover to railways. Representatives of Southern Railway, the office of special tahsildar (LA) and Nemom action council attended the hearing.