Manmohan Singh wants Kerala-TN row over Salem rail division solved amicably

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written a letter to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to solve the railway row between Kerala and Tamil Nadu amicably.

New Delhi, Aug 27 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written a letter to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to solve the railway row between Kerala and Tamil Nadu "amicably".

Singh has asked Lalu to convene a joint meeting of both Chief Ministers to resolve the issue.

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandan met Lalu last week.

Kerala has maintained that it is not opposed to the setting up of a new railway division in Salem in Tamil Nadu, but is opposed to bifurcating Palakkad, one of the oldest and profitable divisions in the country.

The creation of the new division is being seen as a political setback for the CPI (M) Government in Kerala.

As a compromise formula, a new zone for Kerala maybe set up, tentatively named as the "West Coast Railway" Zone.

With this, the number of railway zones would go up to 17, as compared to only nine in 1997.

On Saturday, protestors in Tamil Nadu stopped Kerala-bound trains. Demonstrators in Coimbatore and Salem stopped around a dozen trains to express their anger over Kerala's opposition to create a Salem division.

The trains were allowed to move after Lalu asked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Karunanidhi to intervene.

ANI