Despite getting a bigger-than-sought package from the central government for West Bengal and despite the Congress refraining from putting up a candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections from the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made up her mind that she will continue to oppose most of the central government bills, projects and schemes.
The net revenue of the Indian Railways is likely to grow by 32.93 per cent to Rs 11,993.13 crore (Rs 119.93 billion) in 2011-12 compared to revised estimated income for this fiscal, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched this public friendly facility on Thursday at a programme in Kolkata.
Each MFC will be built at a cost of up to Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million), she said adding the work has been entrusted to IRCON and Rail Land Development Authority. IRCON and RLDA have already taken up the work in a phased manner and drawn up action plan for development of business models, architectural and structural designs suiting local architecture and local ethos, Banerjee said.
Banerjee wants the two top leaders of the United Progressive Alliance to nudge the Planning Commission into including some of her most important initiatives in the Railway Budget.
In the absence of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Rajya Sabha, a Bahujan Samaj Party member described her junior E Ahammed as a "duplicate minister" on Friday.
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.
Among the proposals considered today includes a project to construct a railway link between Rohanpur and Singhabad to facilitate transit traffic from Bangladesh to Nepal through India. Railway ministry sources indicated that the ministry had no objections to opening the additional transit route to Bangladesh.
Bengal govt invokes Acquisition Act to buy land for railways near Singur.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, it appears, is peeved with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram over the punishment being meted out to government servants on charges of corruption.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha who joined Trinamool Congress on Saturday narrated how West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had offered to go as a hostage in exchange for passengers of Air India's IC 814 that was hijacked by the militants over two decades ago.
If the Indian Railways, therefore, wishes to implement its expenditure plans as outlined in the Interim Railway Budget, it has to look for alternative sources of funding. One option under study is to adopt the PPP route to implement new projects. Mamata Banerjee's first Railway Budget in the United Progressive Alliance government, therefore, may outline major PPP initiatives for several new projects, say railway officials.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar utilised railway minister Mamata Banerjee's Rail Budget on Friday to fire another salvo at her predecessor Lalu Prasad saying the planned white paper on the present financial status of the railways would 'expose' his arch rival. Nitish, a former railway minister himself, said the white paper would unravel the truth behind Lalu's claims that Railways earned huge profits successively during his five-year tenure.
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.
Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee attributed her party's abstention from voting on the Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha to a "communication gap" and said she was committed to the Constitutional amendment.
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.
Expressing shock at volleyball player Arunima Sinha being thrown out of a train in Bareilly, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday held both Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati responsible for the incident.
Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that Trinamool Congress was totally against forcible acquisition of land for industrial purposes and the choice of giving up land should be left to the people. "We are against forcible acquisition of land. Our party fought in Singur and Nandigram against land acquisition. If the people agree to give land, it is their decision," Banerjee said.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered removal of chairmen of all Railway Recruitment Boards across the country, appointed during the tenure of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad.
"We have some doubts in our mind. Whatever has happened is not a casual thing. We will take strong steps against those who are behind this," she said.
The NSE Nifty closed at 4861, lower by eight points. The mid-cap and small-cap indices ended marginally lower.
Disagreeing with the formula of hike of one paisa or two paisa per km, Mamata said, "In railways there is no travel for a distance of mere one km or two km distance.
A senior railway official said, "It (white paper) isalmost ready and final touches are being given to it."
Mamata-wary corporate heads hope economics wins over politics in Budget.
"Why is the Prime Minister silent? Will the Centre continue operations against Maoists after the Railway Minister's statement that Operation Greenhunt will be stopped," BJP Deputy Leader Gopinath Munde said in Lok Sabha.
"This is a budget to deceive the masses. It's an anti-farmer, anti-people and anti-country budget," Banerjee said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of Uttar Banga Utsav.
A trained pilot, Dinesh Trivedi has a challenging task ahead in putting the Railways on track after his boss and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee often came under attack for alleged neglect of this key ministry hit by train accidents in the recent days.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that there was a political conspiracy behind the Gyaneshwari Express disaster in West Midnapore and said the Centre has agreed for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the mishap. "From the railways, we have requested the Union home ministry for a CBI investigation into the incident, since it was in Jangalmahal where the joint operation (against Maoists) is on."
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi's remarks after presenting the rail budget make it clear that he knew all along that he was on his way out. Sheela Bhatt reports.
The forthcoming Railway Budget is, perhaps, going to be the toughest one for Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Dismissing suggestions that the Rail Budget was West Bengal-centric, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said those raising the issue are 'humiliating' the state and advised journalists not to ask 'politically manipulative' questions.
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.
Presenting the Railway Budget on Friday in the Parliament, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed an outlay of Rs 40,745 crore for 2009-2010, which is 2,840 crore more than the allocation proposed in the interim budget.
With recovery of a huge quantity of arms and ammunition recently from houses of some CPI(M) leaders at Khejuri in East Midnapore district, Railway minister Mamata Banerjee today suggested involvement of central agencies in combing operations and accused the Left Front government of using the police for partisan ends.
The Railways have slashed service charges levied on purchase of e-tickets by half from April 1.
The prime minister had expressed concern over the price rise and convened a meeting of chief ministers, Mamata Banerjee said.
One of the cars in the convoy of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was on Monday night hit by a lorry coming from opposite direction at Kolaghat in East Midnapore district causing minor injuries to her body guard.
We have here a list of a dozen of her proposals in random order. Please take the poll at the end of the slide show to select the one which you feel is the best thing about this year's Railway Budget.
Investment to the tune of Rs 14 lakh crore would be required to transform Railways into "world-class standards" and meet other targets for the coming decade, the Railway Vision Document 2020 tabled on Friday said.
