Lalu has dishonoured assurance to LS on Rly Zone: Krishnadas

New Delhi, Aug 14 (UNI) Mr N N Krishnadas (CPI-M) today strongly protested in the Lok Sabha against the Railway Ministry's ''unilateral'' announcement on bifurcation of the Palakkad Division in Kerala to set up a new division at Salem in Tamil Nadu.

Raising the issue during zero hour, he said the announcement was in total violation of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's assurance to the Lok Sabha that any decision on the issue would be taken only through consultations between the Chief Ministers of the two states.

He said a Kerala delegation had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, besides the Railway Minister several times, to protest against the bifurcation proposal.

Despite all this, an announcement had been made on the inauguration of the Salem Division on September 14 and this would take away a ''major portion'' from the Palakkad Division, he said.

All the MPs from Kerala also wanted to voice their concern, but Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked them to give notice for a structured discussion which would force the Railway Minister to give his reply.

UNI