Title - ‘Special train to help regular passengers'

Spokesmen for the Kerala Yatra led by the Sunni leader Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musaliar said here on Friday it was to avoid inconvenience to others that the organisers chartered a special train to take their supporters to Thiruvananthapuram from north Kerala to participate in a public meeting arranged there to mark the conclusion of the programme on Saturday. The special train was sanctioned by the Railway Senior Divisional Manager (Operations) in Palakkad on an application from the Millathunnajath Committee of Chemmad.The spokesmen said 1,972 people had confirmed their journey by this train. If followers of the Musaliar who wanted to attend the meeting in Thiruvanathanpuram from north Kerala were to travel by general trains on Friday, other members of the public would have been in trouble.“In fact, by chartering a special train we want to highlight the lack of adequate train facilities in north Kerala,” a spokesman told The Hindu .