COIMBATORE: Even as Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has asked Tamil Nadu and Kerala to sort out the Salem Railway Division issue mutually, his deputy R Velu on Saturday reiterated that the Salem Division has already started functioning.
According to reports, Lalu had stated that he is "prepared toimplement whatever the Chief Ministers agreed upon."
When his attention was drawn to Lalu Prasad's suggestion, Velu, who was here to inaugurate the Food Plaza `Swapnam' (run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation of India (IRCTC) at the Coimbatore Junction on Saturday said, "Let us not talk politics," before asserting, "The Salem Division has already started functioning."
He said the government had already passed the necessary orders for the constitution of the new railway division with headquarters and posted a special officer for the division. A small section of the engineering division of the railways has also started functioning. It would take more time to provide logistics support to the newly formed division.
Regarding apprehensions expressed by Kerala about loss of revenue dueto the creation of the new division, Velu said he had already allayed the fears of the Kerala people. As for the revenue generation,Palakkad would earn an income of Rs 265 crore compared to Salem's Rs 200 crore, he added.
"This is because Palakkad will still have the Madukkarai line from where cement is being loaded for transportation to other parts of the country," he explained.
In addition to this, Palakkad would get a revenue of Rs 80 crore as iron ore is being loaded in the Hassan-Mangalore section.
