By IANS
Coimbatore : The rail blockade agitation in Tamil Nadu was withdrawn within hours Saturday after Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi assured that Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had guaranteed formation of a separate Salem division of the Southern Railway.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu are demanding the immediate creation of a new railway division with Salem – near here in central Tamil Nadu – as headquarters, by bifurcating the existing railway division headquartered at Palakkad in Kerala.
The demand has caused a row between Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK and other political parties had Friday announced an indefinite blockade of trains between the two states from Saturday.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that he had spoken to his Kerala counterpart V. Achuthanandan besides having discussions with the Left parties in the state.
Karunanidhi’s statement, however, gave no timeframe for the creation of the division for Salem.
A special officer was appointed for this division in February and the division was expected to be opened this September. However, it was put off, angering Tamil Nadu parties.
Tamil Nadu minister and DMK leader Veerapandi S. Arumugam, who had Friday threatened to block all train movement on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala tracks in the region, Saturday squatted on the tracks at Salem junction, when the Kochi-bound Gorakhpur Express arrived at the station. About 4,000 DMK volunteers joined the minister.
The Congress and PMK took part in the protest too.
There was utter chaos for about three hours Saturday morning with all political parties in Tamil Nadu getting together to stop trains going to and from Kerala.
In Coimbatore, police had to chase away nearly 1,000 protestors, of various political parties and organisations, who were sitting on railway tracks at various places in the district. People also blocked trains at Pollachi.
People hunkered down before the New Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram Express in Tirupur while 70 DMK activists were taken into preventive custody for blocking the Mangalore-Chennai West Coast Express at Podanur.
Thousands of political party activists came together under the banner of the Salem Railway Division Protection and Struggle Coordination Committee (SRDP and SCC) and blocked trains at Salem, Tirupur, Coimbatore, Pothanur and Irgur stations.
Political parties in Kerala are opposed to formation of the division, fearing loss of revenue. Coimbatore and Salem stations bring in about Rs.125 crore annually.