March 12, 2015
Tapas Mandal speaks on Rail Budget 2015 – 16 | Transcript
Full transcript:
Thank you, Sir. I am thankful to you Sabhapati ji and my leader Mamata Banerjee, for allowing me to speak a few words on the Railway Budget 2015.
This is a unique Budget, propagating discomfort to the people of West Bengal.
First of all, I thank you Prabhu ji, to make it clear that West Bengal is not in the priority area of the NDA Government. Though, your Government is focussing on improvement of the eastern part of our country, as evidenced many times, inside the House and outside the House. By presenting this Budget, at least you have proved that either your leader is committing some mistake or you. It is my privilege, to hope that you are wrong.
Why, I am saying this, is because there are no specific budget allocations for projects in West Bengal. Projects of Rs 100 Crore are stuck in West Bengal. Allocation is very limited. Sometime back, Mr Ramesh Bidhuri from that side made adverse comments on Mamata Banerjee. She announced some viable projects in her tenure. It was not completed and continued due to the budgetary provisions by subsequent Government.
I would like to state that, Mamata Banerjee is the most popular Railway Minister in Independent India. Sir, there is no mention of Metro Railway projects in the annexure of Railway Budget 2015. Please take this proposal from the eastern part of the country, for execution and your kind consideration.
My concern is my people, the people of my constituency and the people of West Bengal. We have lots of complaints and lots of grievance. I hope, that this may be your problem also, because you are also an elected member.
Please look into the matter as the Prime Minister of our country is supposed to look at the east.
Last year when the Finance Minister presented his General Budget, he declared to set up an AIIMS at Kalyani in Nadia district of our State.
Kalyani is an upcoming smart city. May you, show your kripa on Kalyani Metro via Barrackpur proposed route. When our leaders were the Railway Ministers they had sanctioned some amount for surveying the possibility of those proposed line. I think this will be a vital proposal for implementation.
The numbers of local EMU trains running in Sealdah and Howrah station are not sufficient. The frequency of the local trains needs to be increased at least during the peak office hours. Millions of passengers are travelling in these sections each and every day. The number of compartments in the local trains needs to be increased from nine to 12, for accommodating the ever increasing number of the passengers.
The suburban railway stations of almost all states including West Bengal are being neglected for so many years. I want to draw you attention to the suburban railway stations. The toilets, the bathrooms of the suburban railway stations are in very bad conditions. You should look into the matter.
In my constituency, Ranaghat, the historical city, the railway station and the railway tracks run through the middle of the city. There should be an underpass for these areas. The initial work has already been done. The remaining part must be completed to facilitate the process of people’s movement from one place to other part.
There are a lot of unmanned level crossings falling under my constituency. One of such unmanned level crossing is between Ranaghat station and Cooper’s Camp Halt. This is a highly populated area and this should be looked into.
I would like to mention another important point. A lot of poor people live alongside the railway stations and railway tracks. They are from very poor background and they are from Bangladesh as refugees. Please look into the matter of their rehabilitation in better areas.
I conclude my speech with the expectation that all of these proposals will be looked into.
Thank you.
