Shashi Tharoor faults railway sector hive-off bid

Thiruvananthapuram: Dr Shashi Tharoor MP has written to Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu urging him to give up the move to transfer some portion of the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division to Madurai. DC had reported on Wednesday that there was a move to hand over the railway line in Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari sector and Nagercoil-Thirunelveli sector to the Madurai section. Dr Tharoor said he wanted an assurance from the minister that no such decision will be taken without consulting stakeholders.

"In the event that media reports are accurate, I would like to urge that such a plan to be scrapped. It would, in fact, weaken the existing functions of the Railways, its various development goals, as well as the gradation of the Thiruvananthapuram division causing considerable damage and distress to the people of the region and to the state itself," he said. "The southern part of Thiruvananthapuram is witnessing several developments, Vizhinjam seaport being the most significant.

"At such a critical time, a decision like the one proposed would affect the division adversely and take a tremendous toll on revenue collection which is likely to increase with good transportation in the coming years. "With the completion of the Vizhinjam seaport and the coaching terminal in Nemom, traffic along the existing lines will pick up, but the state will gain nothing out of it if the section is handed over to Madurai division.

"Projects are allotted to a division based on revenue collection, and if the stations are transferred, the state’s legitimate interests will be delivered a massive, unjustified blow. "Thiruvananth- apuram, as the capital of the state, it is also administratively important, so that it is essential that the administration of these stations are retained here in order to allow the state to sustain better coordination with the railway authorities and their services," Tharoor said.