Thiruvananthapuram, Thursday, 06 may 2010: Chief Minister V.S Achuthanandan said in New Delhi that the team led by him could convince the Prime Minister about Kerala’s claims regarding the National Highway development project.

He also asserted that no delegates from Joseph group were included in the team due to Kerala Congress (J), (M) merger. Earlier report Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan led an all-party State team to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Wednesday and urged him to reduce the requirement for right of way (RoW) for National Highway (NH) development projects in the State to 30 metres from the proposed 45 metres.

The team opposed the implementation of the projects in the State on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis as this would lead to collection of toll. The delegation wanted the Centre to invest in the NH projects directly.

It sought adequate rehabilitation and resettlement packages for the evictees. They pointed out that in many stretches land was being acquired only on one side of the road and not in equal measures on either side.

Ministers C. Divakaran, N.K. Premachandran, Jose Thettayil, Kadannappaly Ramachandran, K.P. Rajendran, M. Vijayakumar, and M.A. Baby, MPs M.I. Shanavas (Congress), Jose K. Mani (KC-M) and E.T. Mohammed Basheer (IUML), RSP State secretary V.P. Ramakrishna Pillai and BJP State president V. Muraleedharan were in the delegation.