New Delhi   

Salem Division: Lalu asked to convene meeting of Chief Ministers

Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is understood to have asked Railway Minister Lalu Prasad to convene a meeting of the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to resolve the “sensitive issue” pertaining to the creation of a new Railway Division in Salem.

Official sources said Dr. Singh was of the view that the issue should be amicably settled between the two States keeping in mind the sentiments involved from both sides and therefore had written to Mr. Prasad.

Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan last week met Mr. Prasad to discuss the issue. Now, with the Prime Minister intervening in the matter, a joint meeting of the Chief Ministers is in the offing. Sources said that a date would be fixed after consulting the Chief Ministers.

While the creation of the Salem division is only a formality now, officials said some new formula, including creating a new zone for Kerala, could be one of the points of compromise likely to be worked out. If a new zone is created for Kerala, the number of railway zones would go up to 17. The issue also rocked Parliament last week.

Tamil Nadu’s Minister and DMK strongman Veerapandi Arumugham last week threatened an indefinite rail roko in view of the attempts by the Kerala Government to stall the creation of a new Railway division in Salem. Kerala has maintained that it was not opposed to setting up a new Railway division in Salem but was opposed to bifurcating Palakkad, one of the oldest and profitable divisions in the country.

According to a senior Rail Bhavan official, the proposal is to create a new zone in the Southern Railway — Salem, besides Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram divisions. At present, Salem comes under the Palakkad division. As per norms, zones are not created in accordance with the geography of the States but on the basis of the volume of the goods and passenger traffic and the length of the route.

Every State Government is pressing the Centre to divide the zones as per its convenience. It costs the Railway Board about Rs. 5 crore to carve out a new zone.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Civic polls: High Court order stayed
Of social justice and child rights
Remembering a filmmaker of note
Recalling the last days of a princess
Man shot at, Rs. 90,000 looted
Flocking together
Two ‘criminals’ held
PHD Chamber’s wish list for civic agencies
Delhi Mayor meets President
Drama festival concludes
Lecture on relevance of political economy
Onam celebrated
More Metro trains today
‘Take steps to prevent closure of shops’
Prajapatis seek SC status
A unique protest by Yamuna activists
Delhi nod for slums board bill
Supreme Court stays order in Dera case
Case against Azhagiri transferred to Chittoor court
Court notice to Delhi government
Extradited
Centre questions Supreme Court’s jurisdiction in Delhi sealing case
Inside Delhi
Power supply to be affected
Court upset over plea for fresh fingerprints in BMW case
Ghosh extradited to India from Germany finally
Man drowned in Italian Embassy pool
Three held for murder bid
Three suicide cases reported
Three killed in accidents
Bomb hoax
“Implement recommendations of Lyngdoh Committee”
Jamia Millia to set up research centre in Afghanistan
This one or that….
Salem Division: Lalu asked to convene meeting of Chief Ministers

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu