The ongoing rift between Keralam and Karnataka over the proposed bifurcation of the Mangaluru region from the Palakkad Railway Division, has revived memories of the former’s opposition to a bifurcation of the same Division nearly 20 years ago.Back then, the Railway Board had planned to bifurcate the Palakkad Division and create the Salem Railway Division in Tamil Nadu. At one point, the issue had reached a flashpoint with Tamil Nadu’s politicians announcing a blockade of trains from and to Kerala (as the State was known then) passing through Salem.During the fag end of 2005, the Railway Ministry had in-principle agreed to the long term demand from Tamil Nadu to create a Railway Division headquartered in Salem. This project was originally conceived in the 1960s by S.V. Ramaswamy, the then Deputy Minister for Railways. It, however, came closer to fruition only during the time R. Velu of the PMK who served as the Union Minister of State for Railways in the Congress-DMK inclusive UPA-I regime.
R Velu, then Union Minister of State for Railways, at Vijayawada on March 23, 2008
| Photo Credit:
Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
Political parties and industrialists in Tamil Nadu had hailed the decision to create the Salem Railway Division comprising of the Salem, Erode, Namakkal, Coimbatore and Dharmapuri regions, which were until then attached to the Palakkad Railway Division.However, in Kerala, the move triggered strong protests. The then CPI-M Kerala secretary Pinarayi Vijayan (who later became Chief Minister) opposed the move alleging “Kerala, which was located far away from the national capital, was being continuously ignored.” Veliyam Bhargavan, then CPI state secretary, alleged the Centre was “succumbing to the pressure groups in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,” and scuttling railway development in Kerala.
