Tags: Dhumal , Mamata , Lalu

Rail Minister Mamata Banerjee has downplayed the skullduggery of Management Guru Lalu Prasad Yadav with Pro-people Railway budget. Although Mamata's budget has raised eyebrow of the former Railway Minister who now believes that the budget would not work wonder for the railways. He opines that he was the man who had taken railways to a profit-spinning and that too at the time of economic crisis.

The RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was quite miffed with apathy of Mamata towards Bihar and said that his state was being neglected in the budget. Lalu asked Mamata to be benevolent towards Bihar. Mamata said that she respected him very much and Bihar was not neglected in the budget.

Mamata doled out sops for women poor and the employees in the budget but Lalu remained dissatisfied with the budget and expressed unhappiness over the rail budget.

It is known that the rail budget has come as a plan to modernize the railways, expresses concern over the safety and facilities for women passengers.

Trinamool Congress chief and Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday lost no opportunity to needle West Bengal's ruling Left Front when she proposed a new rail line from Singur to Nandigram and sops for Lalgarh - areas in the state that have witnessed violent anti-Left agitations.

Exhibiting shrewd political sense in her wide array of proposals for West Bengal in the 2009-10 rail budget, arguably the highest sops the state has got since independence, Banerjee Friday let go no opportunity to woo her vote bank with an eye to the 2011 state polls.

She announced a new line from Singur to Nandigram, the two spots that saw intense and often violent struggle against land acquisition which played a major role in the debacle of the Left Front in the Lok Sabha polls.

During her speech, Banerjee also twice referred to Lalgarh - a West Midnapore district tribal enclave which is giving sleepless nights to the LF government after Maoists declared it a "liberated" zone, forcing the government to send central and state security personnel to drive out the rebels.

The first mention of Lalgarh came when she announced a 1,000 MW captive power plant in West Midnapore's neighbouring Purulia distict.

"This project is of great importance as it would be located in an under developed tribal area, and will help in providing employment and bringing the tribal people into the mainstream," she said, and took the name of Lalgarh by veering away from her written budget speech.

A little later, she proposed new rail connectivity between "Salboni-Jhargram via Lalgarh, Belpahari".

Banerjee's sops for Lalgarh come at a time when the LF is going all out to shower development projects in the belt, even going to the extent to stationing eight officers of secretary rank in the area for ascertaining the needs of the people there.

The railways minister also proposed setting up of a railway land bank for industrial purposes.

In the wake of the tussle over industrialisation and land acquisition, the LF's failure to come up with a land bank has been a major campaign point for the Trinamool-led opposition.

So, Banerjee's announcement of the railway ministry finalising a land bank could be interpreted as her way of rubbing salt in the Left Front's wounds.

Andhra Pradesh Friday conveyed its unhappiness to Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee over the raw deal the state has received in the 2009-10 railway budget.

The Congress government in the state feels that injustice has been done to the state as the budget proposed no new projects for the state except a superfast train between Visakhaptnam and Mumbai and development of Secunderabad and Tirupati railway stations.

In Delhi, Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh said they were not satisfied with the budget proposals for the state. A delegation of party MPs met Mamata Banerjee to bring to her notice the raw deal meted out to the state.

Sabbam Hari, one of the party MPs, said the railways minister assured them that she would take necessary steps to redress their grievances and do justice to the state.

The Congress MPs are also planning to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Though Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy has not reacted to the railway budget, the ruling party leaders here feel the railways minister has not done justice to the state.

Opposition parties also came down heavily on the Congress party for failing to get a fair deal for the state despite the fact that the party has sent as many as 33 Congress MPs from the state.

"The Congress played a key role in formation of the government at the centre but it failed to ensure justice for the state in the railway budget," said Praja Rajyam party president Chiranjeevi.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao too felt that justice had not been done to the state in sanctioning new trains and other railway projects.

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik termed the union railway budget presented by Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Lok Sabha Friday as "disappointing".

"I am disappointed to find that funds for some railway projects have been reduced considerably from last year for Orissa. In 2008-2009 it was Rs.949.34 crore. This year it is Rs.715.22 crore," Patnaik told reporters here.

Blaming the central government for constantly neglecting the state, Patnaik said: "In 2009-2010, we proposed the sanction of a survey for the construction of a north-south and east-west railway corridor to counter Naxalism. This has not been done."

"Similarly, we demanded a coach factory in Orissa and instead a new coach factory is now being set up in Kolkata which already has a great many rail facilities. We also requested for introduction of 14 new trains against which only six trains has been given to us," the chief minister said.

"As against our proposal for increase in frequency of five trains, only one has been allotted to our state. We demanded three new coaching depots, the introduction of new EMU and DMU trains which has not been agreed to," he said.

"I find this railway budget is very disappointing for our state. The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government at the centre has been constantly neglecting Orissa in many areas," Patnaik said.

Secretary general of ruling Biju Janata Dal Damodar Rout said: "Patnaik had in January this year demanded a special Rs.1520 crore package for the development of railway infrastructure to provide connectivity in the state's mineral rich areas and under developed areas."

"He had also written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The centre has neglected us again the way it has been doing in the past," Rout said.

National vice president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jual Oram said: "Railway has been generating huge income from our state but in return it is giving nothing."


Terming it a "mixed' railway budget, West Bengal's ruling Left Front chairman Biman Bose criticised the privatisation schemes introduced in the new budgetary plans by Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday.

"It's a mixed budget and the thrust is on more and more privatisation. We are opposed to rampant privatisation schemes," Bose told reporters here.

He said: "As far as I know, there's been no mention in the railway budget about more than 125 projects which are now pending with the railways. The minister also has not mentioned anything about filling up the existing vacancies in the railways.

"As this budget, tabled for the current financial year, is signalling a growth of privatisation in the Indian railways, I think it would not be very good for our future."

Senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and member of Lok Sabha from West Bengal Gurudas Dagupta said that Banerjee had scrupulously followed privatisation policy of the union government.

"For the first time, the railway land, which is the land for people, will be used for joint venture and private sector business.

"She is introducing privatisation in every sphere of the railways. It's a prelude to gripping privatisation of the Indian Railways," Dasgupta added.

While the communists opposed Banerjee's railway budget, the Congress leaders in the state welcomed it saying the minister has presented a "pro-people budget".

"We're happy to announce that Mamata Banerjee today (Friday) has placed a historic and a pro-people budget," state Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Manas Bhuniya told reporters here.

Trinamool Congress senior leader Partha Chattopadhyay also appreciated the budget. He said Banerjee has successfully lived up to the expectations of the common people who had reposed their faith in her in the recent-concluded Lok Sabha elections.

"This budget will not only benefit West Bengal alone but it will help the entire nation in terms of developing connectivity. She (Banerjee) has given equal attention to all aspects of the railways irrespective of any particular region," Chattopadhyay said.


Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal Friday said that it was not fair on the part of the central government to ignore the interests of the people of the hill state in the railway budget.

"It's unfortunate on the part of the central government to ignore the interests of the hill state in the railway budget," he said in an official statement.

Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee unveiled the rail budget in the Lok Sabha Friday.

"We have requested the central government to initiate steps for the expansion and inclusion of Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri, Ghanauli-Baddi, Nangal-Talwara and Bilaspur-Manali-Leh rail lines.

"The construction of the Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri rail line was announced in the budget for 2008-09. The estimated cost of the line was Rs.1,046 crore (Rs.10.46 billion) and the railways had approved of Rs.350.33 crore (Rs.3.5 billion) for this. Now, sufficient funds are required so that work on the project starts quickly," he said.

Regarding the construction of the Chandigarh-Baddi broad-gauge rail line, Dhumal said the project was sanctioned in 2007-08 budget but Chandigarh has expressed its reservations in providing land for this purpose. "Now to connect the industrial area of Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, the railways has given an alternative proposal to provide a link for it from Ropar district in Punjab. For this, sufficient funds are required."

Himachal Pradesh is also pursuing the construction of 460 km Bilaspur-Manali-Leh rail line that would provide an all-weather connectivity to tribal areas of both Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, that otherwise remain cut off for over eight months a year.

"The Bilaspur-Manali-Leh line would play an important role for the movement of armed personnel, equipment and essential commodities to border areas that are close to Pakistan and China," the chief minister said.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Add to del.icio.us | digg this | Stumble It