Mamata Banerjee's Railway Budget evoked mixed reactions. While corporate India welcomed the moves made by the railway minister, opposition political parties flayed the budget calling it a fantasy and opoortunistic. Read on...
While analysts and investigative agencies are busy finding reasons, those who are not too friendly with the Trinamool Congress chief think Railways' security has become defunct of late and that Mamata is paying more attention to politics in Bengal than to her duties in New Delhi.
The meeting took place in the backdrop of recent spat between West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Manas Bhuiyan and a number of TMC leaders on the Rajarhat land issue.
Lalu Prasad, who became the railway minister in May 2004, surprised the world in 2008 with the 'magic' turnaround he effected for the near-bankrupt railways, claiming to have created a surplus of Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion.
Passengers can now buy reserved tickets from 5,000 post offices, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said presenting the Railway Budget on Friday.
Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee gave Singur, the erstwhile site for Tata Motors' Nano that made her popular, a miss.
Giving a new poll slogan of 'Khel Zatlo' in Goa, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said an anti-BJP alliance has already taken shape in the coastal state under the banner of her party TMC and now it is for the Congress to decide whether it wants to join the grouping ahead of elections to take on the saffron outfit.
Bengal govt invokes Acquisition Act to buy land for railways near Singur.
In an unusual step, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assumed charge of her office at the Eastern Railway headquarters in Kolkata instead of Rail Bhavan in New Delhi.
The Railways ordered an inquiry, on Friday, into the train derailment near Jaipur that left six persons dead. Commissioner of Railway Safety, Western Circle, Prashant Kumar is inquiring into the mishap, railway sources said.
However, speculation remained rife that the meeting was part of Banerjee's plan to form an opposition front with regional players minus the Congress.
'Duronto' trains, a non-stop service connecting metros and major state capitals, was announced on Friday by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee said she would also raise issues like name change of the state as well matters like merger of public sector banks during the meeting.
The Trinamool Congress expects the Congress leadership to keep its "word" on removal of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi even as he asserted that Railways is nobody's fiefdom.
Some say it is time to decongest the existing line infrastructure and cater to the supply shortage of rolling stock to meet the demand for bulk commodities such as coal, cement and foodgrains.
For the past one-and-a-half months, railway minister Mamata Banerjee has stopped her informal interactions with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee after a sharp exchange on telephone over a municipal election issue.
A team of Trinamool Congress Members of Parliament met Railway Minister and party colleague Dinesh Trivedi soon after he presented the Railway Budget in which he proposed to hike fares across all classes.
Didi will skip the meeting in protest against the violence unleashed in Bengal allegedly by Left Front and Congress workers during a trade union strike. She slammed the 'double standards' of the Congress and the Left.
As part its efforts to get more freight from highways and address shortage of wagons, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday proposed to introduce a modified wagon investment scheme for high-capacity general and special purpose wagons.
Construction of more underpasses besides road overbridges, dedicated passenger corridors are also on the anvil, the railway minister said.
Railway Minister joked, broke into poetry and even lost her cool during her 90-minute budget speech.
Railway hospitals will offer postgraduate courses for medical students.
"If you show us (threaten us with) ED, we will also send proof against BJP leaders to the agency. A section of BJP ministers and leaders is hand in glove with the coal mafia. They even stayed at hotels run by them during elections," she said.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for claiming that she was taking her job as railway minister lightly and said it was he who did not have "vision" for setting up the small car project at Singur.
The Trinamool Congress leader was all praise for the Rs 5,000-crore (Rs 50-billion) Sagar Port project by the Kolkata Port Trust, which will be the first project in the country to come up through the reclamation of riverbed.
Visiting Siliguri for the first time after Congress and Left teamed up to form the Siliguri Municipal Corporation board, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee apologised to the electorate on Sunday and termed as "treachery" the recent act of her alliance partner.
As Railway motormen brought Mumbai to a standstill, MPs, including from Congress, on Tuesday paralysed functioning of Parliament over the issue, expressing solidarity with striking employees and targeting Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for failing to avert the situation.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the death figures, stating that 61 people from her state were dead and 182 were still missing.
Officials in the railway ministry are discussing a proposal by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to cut the premium on Tatkal (instant) tickets and reduce its booking period to give the railway budget an aam aadmi touch.
Opposition and allies alike slammed Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee for the train collission in Sainthia.
Protests against the Waqf Act turned violent in parts of West Bengal on Friday, with demonstrators setting ablaze vehicles, disrupting traffic and rail movement, and injuring several policemen. The unrest erupted in Suti, Murshidabad district, where protesters defied prohibitory orders, hurled stones at security personnel, and torched police vans and public buses during processions. Police responded with lathi charges and tear gas, while some officers were forced to seek refuge in a nearby mosque. Similar protests were held in Malda and Kolkata, prompting Governor C V Ananda Bose to direct the state government to take swift action against those responsible. The governor also contacted Union Home Minister Amit Shah and held discussions with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which was recently passed by both houses of Parliament, aims to improve the management of Waqf properties, safeguarding heritage sites and promoting social welfare.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will present the Rail Budget on July 1.
Seeking to scotch speculation over the Trinamool Congress snapping ties with the UPA, Mamata Banerjee on Monday made it clear that her party was not withdrawing support to the Manmohan Singh government and claimed there was no distrust between them.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN Editor in Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Mamta Banerjee about the recent row over former Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi and the strained relationship with the Congress.
Noted economist and senior Trinamool Congress leader Amit Mitra is likely to step down as the West Bengal finance minister and even retire from active politics due to ill health, party sources said on Sunday.
The Opposition on Wednesday slammed the Railway Budget saying it will promote regional imbalance and criticised its use to promote political ends. Initiating the general discussion on the Railway Budget in the Rajya Sabha, Kalraj Mishra (BJP) said Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been neglected and most of the projects have gone to West Bengal.
The Indian Railway plans to launch 101 new suburban trains in Mumbai. The Railways will also launch 10 more Duranto trains.
A slew of concessions, including for carriage of foodgrains, kerosene and fertiliser, were announced by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Railway Budget 2010-11. Cancer patients travelling for treatment would get 100 per cent concession in third AC and sleeper classes.
Three new non-stop Duronto trains will be launched on Wednesday, the last day of the current financial year. They are the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar, New Delhi-Howrah, and Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Jammu Tawi Duronto expresses.
The Commonwealth Express comprising 11 coaches will leave for Amritsar to coincide with the arrival of Queen's Baton in the country from Pakistan on June 25.
