Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal friendly railway budget for 2011-12

New Delhi, Feb 25 (Calcutta Tube / IBNS) With an eye on the crucial assembly elections in West Bengal, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee presented a populist no-hike, Bengal-friendly Railway Budget for 2011-12 amid noisy scenes and protests from Bihar lawmakers.

There was no hike in passenger fare or freight as the Minister presented a populist budget as anticipated.

On expected lines Mamata Banerjee declared more projects for West Bengal, amid protests by Bihar leaders like Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it a common man’s budget, while the Opposition criticized it with the communists, her political rivals in West Bengal, slamming the minister for failing to implement the earlier projects she announced.

She said the metro railway network of Kolkata will expand while a metro coach factory will be set up near Singur and a rail industrial park in Nandigram in West Bengal.

She admitted that the Railway is passing through a difficult phase and announced to raise Rs 10,000 crore via bonds.

She also announced shelters for thousands of homeless, giving a human face to the budget.

Across India, however, passengers reacted to lack of safety measures for passengers.

“It is an election budget. I am happy with the projects and trains announced but passenger safety has been ignored as before,” said a commuter at Howrah Station in Kolkata.

A total of 56 new express trains were proposed in the Railway Budget.

Three Shatabdi Trains will be introduced in the coming fiscal year. These proposed new Shatabdis are: Pune-Secunderabad, Jaipur-Agra and Ludhiana-Delhi.

The Minister also announced that two double decker AC services on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes.

Mamata Banerjee has announced the introduction to nine new Duronto Trains across different regions of the country. The proposed Duronto Trains are:Allahabad-Mumbai AC Duronto (bi-weekly); Pune-Ahmedabad AC Duronto (tri-weekly); Sealdah-Puri non AC Duronto (tri-weekly); Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam AC Duronto (tri-weekly); Madurai-Chennai AC Duronto (bi-weekly); Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram AC Duronto (bi-weekly);

Mumbai Central-New Delhi AC Duronto (bi-weekly); Nizamuddin-Ajmer non-AC Duronto (bi-weekly) and Shalimar-Patna Duronto (tri-weekly).

Mamata Banerjee announced that 1000 km of three sections will be electrified during the ensuing financial year. The sections on which electrification work will be taken up are

Vizianagaram-Rayagada-

Titlagarh-Raipur, Rosa-Sitapur-Burhwal and Alwar-Rewari.

Feasibility studies will be taken up for other sections, she said.

Mamata said a Central Organization for Project Implementation (COPI) will be set up with offices in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore to ensure timely project execution and proper utilization of funds allotted for works.

Highlights of Railway Budget 2011-12

No hike in passenger fare and freight rates.

Highest ever Plan outlay of Rs. 57, 630 crore proposed for Railways.

Rs. 9,583 crore provided for new lines.