Didi’s largesse for Bengal, Bihar ignored

It's evident from Mamata Banerjee's railway budget that she had eyes firmly trained on the 2011 assembly polls in Bengal

Hardnews Bureau  

The railway budget presented by Mamata Banerjee in Parliament on Friday reflected her persona. And, her politics. By all means, this was a populist budget, a pro-people budget. 

No briefcase for her. No official car either. Banerjee carried her trademark jhola and white handloom saree to Parliament to present the budget.  

It was evident that while drawing up the budget, she kept in mind her political ambitions in West Bengal. After a sterling performance in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, her next agenda is to win the assembly election in Bengal due in 2011. In fact, she is eager to bringing it forward, if possible. The rail budget made it clear that she had her eye trained on the 2011 assembly poll.

Trinamool Congress workers in Kolkata celebrated after party chief, Banerjee, presented the budget. They distributed sweets and smeared each other with abir. 

After all, Banerjee has been generous with endowments for Bengal - a power plant, a rail coach factory and four out of the 12 new long-distance non-stop trains. In fact, she announced a total of 18 new trains to Bengal.

All three major stations of Bengal - Howrah, Sealdah and Kolkata will be modernised to a world class standard. Of the 309 railway stations identified to be developed as Adarsh stations, a large number are located in Bengal.  

Banerjee announced the extension of Kolkata Metro which is long overdue. Tollygunge railway hospital will be revamped. Along with Chennai and Delhi, Kolkata to have a new train information system. A new coach factory will be set up at Kanchapara in North 24-Parganas district of Bengal.  

A new 1,000 MW power plant has been proposed to be set up on the Bengal-Jharkand border. For this, land has to be acquired. But, Banerjee's political success has been based on tooth-and-nail opposition to land acquisition.  

In this context, CPM MP Basudeb Acharia, said, "Without acquiring land at Adra in Bengal, she has proposed building of this power plant. It is a big project which will require at least 1,000 acres of land. I don't know how she will acquire land for this. She has been opposing land acquisition and now she proposes land acquisition."

She also catered to her constituencies including youth, women and minorities. She promised to give more opportunities to minorities, women and physically handicapped in railway recruitment.  

She introduced several schemes to reach out to minorities. Students' discounts will include madrasah students, too. In Kolkata Metro Railway, students can avail of discounts up to 60 per cent. 

Banerjee took a dig at her predecessor, Lalu Prasad Yadav, calling targets set by him unrealistic. In fact, Bihar was given a big miss in Banerjee's rail budget. Expectedly, she got flak from Yadav. He said, "New trains will pass through Bihar but won't stop even at Patna. So, what will people in Bihar do? Just say, "OK, Tata.""

The truth is, most of the trains outside Bengal announced by Banerjee had already been announced by Yadav.  

It's been a practice with railway ministers to be overly partial to their home states. And, Banerjee has been no exception. Only, she has gone overboard which led to people to wonder is she was the railway minister of Bengal or India.  

In the run-up to the railway budget, Banerjee spent most of her time in Kolkata. Breaking with tradition, she took charge as a railway minister in Kolkata. Reason: she wanted to be in Bengal for the victims of cyclone Aila. Officials in the ministry told Hardnews, that it was difficult to work as the minister was hardly in office. She spent most of the time in Bengal.  

In keeping with her populist approach, she has not increase passenger or freight fares. Special attention has been paid to hygiene and amenities. For passenger amenities alone, Rs 1,102 have been allocated.

Banerjee proposed an outlay of Rs 40,745 crore for 2009-10 in the rail budget. Out of this, Rs 2,921 crore will be spent on new lines, Rs 1,750 crore on gauge conversion and Rs 1,102 crore on passenger amenities. Also, Rs 424 crore will be spent on amenities for railway staff. A freight loading target of 882 MT has been proposed with an estimated gross freight receipt at Rs 88,419 crore. 

Banerjee announced that an expert committee will be set up to study in details the viability of projects that are desired for inclusive social growth but are economically unviable.  

She said that the budget sought inclusive growth and expansion of railway network to take development to every corner of the country. As a priority, she mentioned improvement in passenger amenities, cleanliness, quality of railway catering, safety and security and punctuality.  

Twelve non-stop Duronto air-conditioned sleeper trains have been introduced between major metros. Non-stop AC Duronto trains will also be introduced. Special Yuva trains have been promised, especially for youths from rural hinterland to major metros with concessional rail fare but with air-conditioned facilities.

The railway minister also announced 57 new train services, extension of 27 trains and increase in frequency of 13 trains. She proposed introduction of air-conditioned double decker coaches for inter-city travel. 

Banerjee announced a new scheme Izzat, which lets people in the unorganised sector, with a monthly income upto Rs 1,500, avail of a monthly ticket of Rs 25 for travel upto 100 km.

Ladies' special trains will be introduced in Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata suburban during rush hours following the Mumbai model.  

For improving passenger safety, timely track renewal, modernisation of signals and use of digital ultrasonic flaw detectors will be introduced. Also, an integrated security scheme has been proposed at 140 vulnerable and sensitive stations. Women RPF Squads for women passengers will also be introduced. 

Travel discounts for media professionals have been hiked from 30 per cent to 50 per cent. Once in a year their spouse can also travel with a 50 per cent concession. 

Waitlisted passengers will now be updated regularly through SMS and 200 ATMs will be set up at mid-sized and small stations. Computerised, unreserved tickets will be made available through post offices. Around 50 mobile ticketing vans called Mushkil Aasaan will be introduced to provide services in remote areas. Also, automatic vending machines at platforms will be set up.

Janta Khana will be set up on platforms to provide clean, hygienic food at affordable rates. Tatkal tickets will now be available two days in advance instead of five days. Multi-functional complexes will be opened at stations and there is a proposal to make 50 stations of a world class standard.  

With Rs 50 billion increase in budgetary support, new train information systems will be introduced in Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi.  

There are plans to set up mega logistic hubs in eastern and western corridor. Premium parcel service has been introduced at three stations. Private freight terminals will also be introduced. With private partnership, the railway ministry plans to open medical and other professional colleges on railway's land.  

Infotainment service will be introduced in trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi. Besides, a doctor will be made available in all long-distance trains. Specially designed ramps and coaches will be introduced to make the journey comfortable for the physically challenged. 

Banerjee invoked Indira Gandhi during her budget speech. She quoted Tagore and ended her speech with an Urdu couplet: Roshni chaand se hoti hai sitaron se nahin,/ Kamyabi manvikta se hoti hai, zulm se nahin. 

The market responded positively to the budget. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his satisfaction and hoped that in coming years journey on trains will become an "enjoyable experience".