Banerjee said the state is targeting to shift at least 10 lakh people to safer places in a bid to avoid any loss of life.
Allies and opposition parties tonight attacked the government over the hike in diesel prices saying it will further hit the common man and demanded an immediate rollback.
In a major initiative marking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to Bangladesh, two bus services connecting key cities in the two countries were flagged off on Saturday to boost connectivity and enhance people-to-people contact.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will present the Rail Budget on July 1.
An official announcement said that the booths can sell the coupons by paying an additional licence fee that varies from Rs 200 to Rs 500 a month.
A devastating fire at a multi-storeyed building in Kolkata that claimed nine lives turned into the epicentre of a political slugfest on Tuesday, with the Trinamool Congress government and the Bharatiya Janata Party pointing accusatory fingers at the Railways and the state administration respectively, even as the bereaved families grieved at the loss of their near ones.
Trinamool Congress on Monday ruled out any action against Dinesh Trivedi, who resigned as railway minister, saying that he has been asked to attend the parliamentary party meeting which party chief Mamata Banerjee is expected to attend.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation is set to face a decline of Rs 300 million ( Rs 30 crore) in revenues from sale of online rail tickets in the coming financial year as a result of the reduction in service charge announced in the Rail Budget last month.
"Call it a craze, fever or national interest but HSR is our window to the outside world."
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday described as 'absurd and baseless' Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's claim that central security forces for anti-Maoist operations were being misused by the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Trinamool Congress ministers have sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for submitting their resignation on Friday. Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Thursday said that an appointment has been sought from the prime minister at 3 pm on Friday.
The train is expected to take 28 hours to complete its journey, about 20 minutes less than the time taken by Chennai Rajdhani.
Though this is the second charge-sheet filed by the CBI in the case before a special court here, it is the first time that Tejashwi Yadav has been named as an accused.
'We want to make Bengal an automobile hub.'
At the Trinamool Congress rally in Lalgarh on Monday Union Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned Maoist leader Azad's death in a police encounter, embarrassing her government which has resisted calls for an investigation into the incident. Some questions
India's cargo trains run at 19-30 km an hour, they run at 120 km in China - and the difference is only growing.
A new scheme -- 'Izzat' was unveiled on Friday by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for the workers in the unorganised sector who can now travel upto 100 kms with a monthly season ticket of Rs 25.
The General Budget will be presented on July 6 and the Railway Budget will be presented on July 3.
Attacking the prime minister over the removal of Dinesh Trivedi, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said if the former railways minister was sacked due to the increase in fares, the role of the prime minister and finance minister should also be questioned in the whole episode. Trivedi, who had presented the Rail Budget on Wednesday, was replaced by Trinamool Congress with Mukul Roy after party chief Mamata Banerjee opposed the increase in rail fares.
Dinesh Trivedi continued to be Railway Minister on Thursday but only just with the United Progressive Alliance leadership appearing to have buckled under the Trinamool Congress demand to sack him, an action that has been temporarily delayed by the Union Budget to be presented on Friday.
The Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala rolled out the country's first air conditioned double-decker coach for oscillation trials on the Delhi-Muradabad section.
A former Indian Police Services officer, who lodged an FIR against Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and was considered very close to the Left Front government during Jyoti Basu's tenure, is among five former police officers contesting the West Bengal assembly polls on Trinamool Congress tickets.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget presentation on Monday was in sharp contrast to his colleague Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's disorderly and oft-disrupted performance.
Being a coalition partner of the Congress at the Centre need not be a deterrent for Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress to join hands with the BJP elsewhere. Konthoujam Sarat of the Trinamool Congress on Thursday won the Konthoujam by-election to the Manipur legislative assembly. It was the first election victory of the Trinamool Congress in the state. Last year, it had won five assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh.
The implementation of the NRC as nothing but a political vendetta of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, she told the assembly.
The meeting of the GoM, according to sources, will be attended by several senior ministers, including Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telecommunication Minister Kapil Sibal.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
The National Advisory Council, headed by United Progressive Alliance Chairman Sonia Gandhi, will also meet on Thursday to look at the Food Security Bill, a crucial component of the second UPA government's promise to provide cheap and plentiful food to the poor.
In what seemed a political understanding, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee stayed away from a cabinet committee meeting where the government finally cleared two disinvestment proposals she had been opposing.
The Rail Budget to be presented tomorrow may continue with the practice of not raising the fares and freight rates but the possibility of imposition of a safety cess may not be ruled out, at least on the higher class fares.
Elections to the 40-member Goa Assembly are due in two months. Recent visits by Banerjee, Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi heated up things in the otherwise "susegad" atmosphere in the small state.
Shah said Banerjee will not be in a position to oppose the implementation of the CAA as she will cease to be the chief minister after the assembly polls likely in April-May this year.
Bowing to pressure, the finance ministry may give industry relief from some of the new levies proposed in the Budget.
In a Women's Day gift, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced free monthly seasonal tickets -- for local travel -- to girls till their college level education.
Maoists are ready for talks if the Centre stops operations against them, their leader Kishenji said on Friday.
The West Bengal chief minister did not have anything new to offer to Singur and its people, except that the site would be used for an industrial project.
Railway Minister and key United Progressive Alliance partner Mamata Banerjee ruled out any difference with the Union government over a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation, even as she advocated a discussion on the scam in Parliament.
On Wednesday, Bengal's own daughter she firmly pitched herself as, was sworn in as the chief minister of the turbulent state for the third successive term amid raging fires of political violence and a rampaging pandemic.
When Mamata Banerjee registered strong, vocal and public objections over the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, it was dismissed by the other allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as another one of her eccentricities.
In a thanksgiving budget, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday proposed no increase in passenger fares or freight tariff while announcing a slew of measures including launch of 12 non-stop point-to-point long-distance trains and air-conditioned double-decker coaches for inter-city travel.
