The long pending demand of the Kerala for the construction of a Railway Coach Factory was approved by the Central government and more than 230 acres of land was acquired for the purpose by the state government in 2012 itself. The government decided for Coach Factories at the same time, one at Rae Bareilly in UP and one at Kanjikode, Palakkad in Kerala. The former one has already been constructed and started functioning, but the latter is completely ignored. Now, the Railway Minister stated a few days back that there is no requirement for another factory, which was corrected by himself later stating that the government has taken no decision to close the project, due to strong criticism.

The stand of the central government is nothing but discrimination against Kerala for political reasons. The reason for not proceeding with the project was stated that the state government is not keen and is delaying the acquisition of land for the project. It is a fact that the required land of 230 acre was already acquired and ready for construction. The Minister’s lie was exposed.

The Railways require coaches, the land is acquired and the Kerala Chief Minister and M.P.s have asked for starting the project.

The centre should take immediate action to construct the railway Coach Factory at Kanjikode, Palakkad, Kerala.