By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : A Kerala-Tamil Nadu row over the bifurcation of the Palakkad Railway Division took an ugly turn Saturday with protesters in Tamil Nadu stopping trains from going to Kerala.
Demonstrators in Coimabatore and Salem stopped around a dozen trains to express their anger over Kerala MP’s protests against the splitting of the Palakkad rail division and the creation of a new one in Salem in Tamil Nadu.
However, the trains were allowed to move in the afternoon after Railway Minister Lalu Prasad asked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Karunanidhi to intervene.
Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had called up the office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention saying it would affect thousands travelling home for the Onam holidays.
The Prime Minister’s Office is reported to have told Achuthanandan that action would be taken to see that the protests are stopped.
Kerala Minister in charge of Railways M. Vijayakumar termed the protests most unfortunate.
“In yesterday’s (Friday’s) cabinet meeting the issue was discussed. We have decided that it would be taken up at the chief secretary level and also by the respective state governments,” he told reporters.
What has surprised everyone is that almost all political parties in Tamil Nadu, including the Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI), took part in the protest. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) did not.
Congress Rajya Sabha member P.J. Kurien said the protesters were being misled.
“We are not against the creation of Salem division. We only do not want it to be formed by mutilating the Palakkad division, which has been in existence since the formation of Indian Railways.
“Moreover, the railway minister has also made it clear in parliament that there would be no problem in the formation of Salem division,” he said.