Stating that E.V. Ramasamy, known as Thanthai Periyar, had contributed to the growth of railways in the region in the early 19th century, the minority wing of the district Congress Committee has urged the railways to rename the Erode Railway Junction after him.
In a letter to the Chairman of the Railway Board, K.N. Basha, vice-president of the district Congress wing and former member of Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee, said that the British proposed to lay tracks from Royapuram in Chennai to Kozhikode in Kerala through Katpadi, Salem, Erode, Coimbatore and Palakkad and works were split into 16 parts.
For the works in Erode, E.V. Ramasamy’s father Venkatappa Nayakar donated his farmland for the project and also sent his workers to help the contractor, Parker and Company, to establish the railway station on Vendipalayam Road. Rail traffic commenced in the section in 1865, the letter said.
In 1905, the British proposed to lay tracks from Tiruchi to Erode for which the existing station could not be expanded due to inadequate space. The British move to acquire 300 acres of land belonging to Annamalai Pillai for the new station failed as he refused to sell the land. The British sought the help of EVRr’s father, who pacified his friend Annamalai Pillai and the land was sold for ₹1 lakh to the British after which the Erode Railway Junction was established in 1925, the letter further said.
EVR was the chairman of Erode Municipality from 1917 to 1919 when he named the stretch from Kalaimadu Silai to Diesel Shed after Annamalai Pillai’s son E.M. Muthukumarasamy, a doctor, who died at an early age.
Like the Chennai Central Station wich has been renamed as Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station and the Tiruppur Railway Station as ‘Thiyagi Tiruppur Kumaran Railway Station’, the Erode junction should be renamed as Thanthai Periyar Railway Junction, the letter urged.
