No plans to shift IRIMEE from Jamalpur: Railways

The Indian Railways on Thursday

said it has no plans to shift century-old IRIMEE from Jamalpur in Munger district to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, and any such assertions are "incorrect and misleading".

The statement comes after senior Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Jha urged Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to rescind the "outrageous order" of shifting the institution.

Jha, a close confidante of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, had said the "intriguing" move to shift the institution out of Jamalpur has hurt the emotions of the state's people.

Kumar, who served as railway minister in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had written to Goyal on May 1, urging him to immediately revoke the decision.

With the issue having the potential to give ammunition to the opposition ahead of the Bihar polls that is due at the end of this year, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi dialled Goyal on Wednesday evening.

Goyal promised him to issue a clarification on the issue.

In a statement, the