NEWDELHI: There is good news and bad news for Kerala from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his team met him seeking support for the State’s development dreams.The good news is that the Prime Minister has given final nod to the much-awaited Kochi Metro Rail Project. And the bad news is that Singh is non-committal regarding the issue of the Mullaperiyar dam.According to Chandy, the Prime Minister himself raised the topic of the Kochi Metro during the discussion and told the Kerala team, comprising Chandy, his 11 ministers and Planning Board vice-chairman K M Chandrasekhar that the Government has decided to give the final clearance to the metro project. ‘’The PM himself started the discussion on the Kochi Metro without us asking anything about it. He told us that the Government has cleared the proposal exactly on the lines of our demand,’’ said Chandy.Kerala had been demanding that the Kochi Metro should be implemented on the Chennai Metro model where the Centre and the State will have equal share.Chandy also revealed that the State Government has approached Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan to head the Kochi project too. ‘’The Government has a special interest in getting Sreedharan to head the Kochi Metro project as his expertise could be a great asset to the state. We hope that he will take a positive reaction regard this by the end of December,’’ the Chief Minister said.But when asked about Sreedharan’s suggestion for using Korean technology for the metro, he said that the Government has not taken a final call regarding the technology to be used for the Kochi metro.Singh, however, remained non-committal about the Mullaperiyar Dam issue, according to Chandy. ‘’We conveyed our anxiety regarding the Mullaperiyar Dam to the PM, especially in the backdrop of the recent earthquake. Since the matter is in the court, the PM did not make any commitment regarding that,’’ said Chandy.When repeatedly questioned about the gravity of the situation and the PM’s silence, he said that Singh had taken the initiative to mediate between Kerala and Tamil Nadu earlier during the LDF government rule. But the efforts failed due to the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Left government, he said. The Kerala Government has placed a demand for a special financial package of Rs 110002 crore for the state. This includes Endosulphan package, special financial package, loan waivers and Vizhinjam International seaport package.Chandy and his team also met the Health Minister, Commerce minister, Tribal Development Minister and the Railways Minister. They will be meeting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday and a final picture regarding the demand for a financial package will emerge only after that meeting. It is for the second time that Chandy is coming to Delhi with his team of ministers.
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