Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Southern Railway bags award

MADURAI: The Southern Railway has bagged the best stall among the public sector units at the 12th edition of Chamber Trade Fair held at Tamukkam Grounds here by the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Anil Singhal, Divisional Railway Manager, received the award from chamber senior president, S. Rethinavelu, at the valedictory function on Sunday.

Addressing the function, Mr. Singhal said that the Madurai Division expected to post a growth of 60 per cent in goods and 20 per cent in passenger this year.

“This growth is possible only because of the increase in economic activity in this region. Also, the many new railway projects announced for this region are economically viable to the railways only, thanks to this increased commercial activity,” he said.

Speaking about the recent instances of cracks developing in railway tracks, he said that a stretch of 20 km between Madurai and Dindigul had already been replaced with another 10 km to be replaced in a week or so.

As for the Madurai Railway junction, he said a “re-modelling plan” was on the anvil. Reacting to requests for introducing a train between Kanyakumari and Rameswaram, Mr. Singhal said that it would require a detailed study by railway headquarters.

The National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) Deputy General Manager T. Venkateswaran spoke about the corporation’s various schemes to help small scale industries.

Madurai East Constituency MLA N. Nanmaran praised the exhibition’s motto of ‘Industrial linkage empowers agriculture.’

Speaking about the long-standing demand of a permanent trade centre for the city, he expressed hope that it would materialise soon. He added that he would take it up at the appropriate places. Development of Madurai would benefit all southern districts, he said. Madurai MP P. Mohan also spoke.

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