THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The absence of majority of MPs in the meeting convened by Southern Railway general manager to discuss the pending projects has raised several eyebrows. The meeting convened by Southern Railway general manager R. K. Kulashrestha to discuss the ongoing projects of railways and to hear the views and suggestions from the people’s representatives, was attended by only six of the 20 Lok Sabha MPs and just one MP from Rajya Sabha.
All MPs of the ruling LDF were absent while P. V. Abdul Wahab was the lone Rajya Sabha MP who took part in the meeting. Tamil Nadu MPs A. Vijaykumar and Vijila Sathyananth came to attend the crucial meeting. Kozhikode MP M. K. Raghavan said they had taken part in the meeting to raise the pending demands of the state and to hear the views of the senior railway officials. "We came here to exchange ideas on the development of the railway sector," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Kulshreshta said that the absence of the MPs could be due to the preparations forthcoming Parliament session. "Some of CPM MPs are away in Kolkata to attend the party meeting," he said. The GM said that some trains are running late in the state because of the ongoing track maintenance and development works in the section. "The people will have to bear with the inconvenience for few more months. We are giving top priority to safety," he added.
