Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) said in an official statement that they will not drop any of the Metro stations proposed as part of the Phase II corridor. There was a demand to exclude stations at Chembumukku and Padamugal due to problems with land acquisition.
KMRL has requested the district collector to proceed with land acquisition for the 10 stations along the Phase II line from JLN Stadium to Infopark as per the detailed project report (DPR).Meanwhile, KMRL has also clarified that its design and technical departments will study the recommendations regarding the changes to be made in the two station projects, which was suggested by the social impact assessment (SIA) team of land acquisition.
Earlier, Hibi Eden, MP, and Uma Thomas, MLA, had approached KMRL seeking clarification over the upcoming stations along the Phase II line. They had pointed out that the stations at Padamugal and Chembumukku have been excluded from the land acquisition notifications issued by the revenue department.
In a reply given to the MP, KMRL MD Loknath Behera said that the agency has not excluded any proposed stations and will be happy to construct all the stations on the lands as proposed in the DPR. “The Government has already accorded administrative sanction for land acquisition for the stations.
The requisitions for the acquisition for stations at Palarivattom, Palarivattom Bypass, Chembumukku, Vazhakkala, Padamugal, Kakkanad, Cochin SEZ, Chittethukara, Kinfra and Infopark have already been forwarded to the district collector for initiating land acquisition,” says the letter.
There were strong protests from local people against the land acquisition for the stations at Chembumukku and Padamugal. People’s representatives had opposed the move to acquire 36 cents owned by St Michel’s church for the construction of Chembumukku station. The SIA study had recommended identifying vacant government land to set up stations at Chembumukku and Padamugal, instead of acquiring private land.
The letter issued by KMRL says that the SIA study has been completed by the agency appointed by the district administration and, as a practice, the district administration will go ahead with the acquisition process.
“In the SIA report, it is suggested that the proposed station area at Chembumukku has to be reduced as per the request of the parish members. Similarly, as per the SIA study the proposed station area at Padamugal will cause much social impact to the inhabitants and recommended to shift the station to a vacant adjacent plot.
KMRL’s design department and technical department, on the request of the district administration, are studying the matter,” it says.
