Vaiko to stage rail roko on Sep 19

Chennai, Sept 12: MDMK General Secretary Vaiko will lead a rail roko agitation on September 19 in protest against Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's decision to delink a portion of the line from Madurai Railway to include it in Palakkad division.

In a statement here, he said the delinking of 79 km stretch of Kinathukkadavu-Pollachi-Palakkad from the existing Madurai Railway division and including it in Palakkad division amounted to surrendering of Tamil Nadu's rights.

Mr Vaiko said people in Pollachi taluk, particularly farmers, coconut growers, entrepreneurs of small industries and the railway employees in Tamil Nadu would be subjected to hardships and sufferings.

The agitation was to protest against the injustice meted out to one section of the people of Tamil Nadu, he said and urged Mr Lalu Prasad not to implement this unilateral decision.

Stating that people of the area were agitated, Mr Vaiko in a letter to the Railway Minister urged him to reconsider the decision and order status quo by retaining the Kinathukkadavu-Pollachi-Palakkad stretch with the Madurai division.

UNI