Kerala opposes transfer of its portions to new Salem railway divis

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) A delegation of Kerala MPs today submitted a memorandum to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad seeking his intervention to stop the move to "degrade" the importance of the Palakkad Railway division.

The delegation, led by Kerala Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Vijayakumar and comprising 20 out of the 28 MPs from the state, discussed the issue with Mr Prasad and Minister of State for Railways R Velu.

Mr Vijayakumar told mediapersons after the meeting that the decision of the Southern Railways to create a new division with Salem in Tamil nadu as its headquarters would reduce the Palakkad division to a mere "ghost town." He said most of the portions of the proposed Salem division were now part of the Palakkad division.

In this context, he pointed out that Kerala was informed earlier that the Salem division was being formed to reduce the workload of Madurai, Chennai and Tiruchirapally divisions in Tamil Nadu.

However, the recent orders regarding the formation of Salem division showed that not a single stretch from the adjoining divisions of Chennai, Madurai and Tiruchirapally was proposed to be added to the new division.

"Once this new division is formed as per current decision, Palakkad will not have even the route length required for its independent existence," the delegation said in the memorandum.

It is also pointed out that formation of Salem division in its present form would seriously affect the economic interests of the state.

The delegation suggested that the Salem division could be formed with the portions beyond Erode up to Katpadi or wherever the railways find it feasible. "While doing so the Podanur-Pollachi and Palakkad-Pollachi sections of Madurai division may be made part of Palakkad division to compensate for the lost portions," Mr Vijaykumar explained.

"We are not opposed to the formation of the Salem division if it is an essential administrative decision. Our memorandum is only to entreat railways not to hinder the development of the state by this illogical decision," he added.

He said Mr Prasad had agreed to discuss the issue with the Chief Ministers of both the state and come out with a solution before the forthcoming budget session of Parliament.

UNI

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