The Hindu : Advani to take up with PM railway bifurcation issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 07, 2002

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Advani to take up with PM railway bifurcation issue

By K.V. Prasad

The West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, with the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, at North Block in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: Anu Pushkarna

NEW DELHI JULY 6. In the face of stiff opposition and stalemate over the decision to bifurcate the Eastern Railways, the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, said here today that he would discuss the issue with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Mr. Advani said this after the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, called on him and urged the Centre to appoint a committee of experts to study the decision and put on hold the implementation of the notification until the exercise was completed.

The CPI (M) politburo, in session here, today demanded that the Centre call a meeting of the Inter-State Council to discuss the re-organisation of the Railways.

The Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar's decision last month to notify East Central zone at Hajipur in Bihar has touched off stiff opposition from West Bengal what with two important divisions, Dhanbad and Mughalsarai, being shifted from the existing Eastern Zone at Kolkata.

Unlike the Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, who is said to have turned the issue into a ``Bengal versus Bihar'' feud, Mr. Bhattacharjee was categorical that the issue concerned the entire country and was not a ``simple problem between two States.''

After a 30-minute meeting with Mr. Advani, Mr. Bhattacharjee said that Mr. Kumar was planning to reorganise railway divisions all over the country and that similar problems would crop up elsewhere too. "Parochial forces might reap benefits from this tension,'' he said adding that the immediate task was to defuse tension and establish friendly ties with the neighbouring States.

A delegation of the Left parties and the Congress MLAs from West Bengal is scheduled to meet Mr. Vajpayee next week on the issue of creation of more zones. Mr. Bhattacharjee also raised the issue of the sick Haldia Petrochemicals in West Bengal and the suspension of flights by the Dutch Airlines, KLM, to Kolkata.

PTI, UNI report:

On the Haldia Petrochemical issue, Mr. Advani had told him that he would not intervene and that he had spoken to the Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik, who ``is dealing with the matter'' and the Minister of State for Coal, Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Regarding the KLM move, in which Mr. Bhattacharjee sought the Centre's intervention to stop the airline from pulling out its services from his State capital, Mr. Advani said that he would speak to the Civil Aviation Minister, Shahnawaz Hussain, ``on why some airlines are leaving.''

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