New land acquisition plan for Vizhinjam

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Government has cancelled the original notification for acquiring 1,088 hectares for the development of basic infrastructure for the proposed international container transshipment terminal at Vizhinjam, near here.

The State Cabinet, which approved acquisition of 120 hectares for the purpose, setting at rest the controversies raised by the original notification.

The Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, told newspersons after the Cabinet meeting that the Government wanted to launch the project at the earliest and it was doing everything to speed up the development of the required infrastructure for the project.

The earlier notification for acquisition of 1,088 hectares of land for the development of infrastructure, such as roads, rail connectivity and work yard, had led to widespread complaints from the residents of the area, who demanded transparency in the whole procedure. Later, the Government appointed a high-level committee, headed by the Chief Secretary, to look into the matter and submit a report.

The new land acquisition plan was approved after taking into account the report of the high-level committee.

The earlier acquisition notification was based on a report prepared by the Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation (KITCO). The Government will conduct a probe into how the agency came to the conclusion that 1,088 hectares of land was required for infrastructure development.