Updated at 5.00 pm, 12 March 2015.
Trinamool MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Pratima Mandal ,Arpita Ghosh, Tapas Mandal and Mamtaz Sanghamitra spoke on the Railway Budget 2015-16 at Lok Sabha.
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar slammed the Government for raising the freight charges, even when international fuel prices have declined.
“With an increase in the freight rates, core industries like, cement, kerosene, urea and food grains, is going to increase. This is going to hit badly, the common man as well as the industry. This will create a burden on the common man, because this will increase the price of the daily used commodities”, she said.
She drew attention to the fact that during the tenure of Mamata Banerjee as the Railway Minister the freight carrying capacity had increased by 35%, but during the last year there has been a fall in the capacity.
Click here for full speech of Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
Ratna De Nag also criticized the Government along similar lines pointing out that petty amounts were allocated to pending projects for the State of West Bengal.
“In 2014-15 Railway Budget only Rs 33.92 Crore was allocated whereas in 2015-16 Budget a meager sum of Rs 2.51 Crore is allocated. How can we complete this project with such a meager allocation? In the last budget a sum of Rs 184.70 Crore was sanctioned for coach rehabilitation factory in Anara but till March 2014 only Rs 8.29 Crore has been spent. I strongly urge the Railway Minister to allocate more funds and utilise the sanctioned fund”, she said.
Click here for full speech of Ratna De Nag.
Pratima Mandal urged the Railway Minister to introduce new galloping trains to Sealdah-Namkhana line and to extend the line to Bakkhali, which is a popular tourist spot of West Bengal. “Bakkhali is an attractive tourist stop, so that people from different parts of West Bengal can reach there easily. Kindly sanction funds for these two projects”, she said.
Click here for full speech of Pratima Mandal.
Arpita Ghosh slammed the Government on meager allotment of funds for projects in West Bengal. Several projects of her Parliamentary constituency is pending and allocations have been cut down drastically. “Jab Mamata Di, Rail Mantri thi, unhone mere kshetra me pehli bar rail line layi thi aur kayi projects di thi, jaisa ki Balurghat Hili new rail line, new construction Itahar-Buniyadpur, new construction Buniyadpur, Kushmandi via Kishanganj, new construction Buniadpur wagon factory. Mamata ji Rail Mantrak chhorne ke baad se humare waha kaam bandh pare hai. Koi allotment nahi ho rahi hai. Ajeeb baath to yeh hai, ki kuch project ki zikar bhi nahi hai. Balurghat – Hili Rs 200 Crore ka project mein Mamata ji chhorne ki baad keval Rs 2 Crore mila hai”, she said.
Click here for full speech of Arpita Ghosh.
Tapas Mandal strongly criticised the Minister for ignoring West Bengal in the Railway Budget. He urged the Minister to finish the work of underpass in Ranaghat. “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”, he said.
Click here for full speech of Tapas Mandal.
Mamtaz Sanghamita raised the issue of female security in local trains and the quality of food served in the platforms. “There is no local train between Durgapur to Bardhaman, Durgapur to Howrah, Katwa and Sealdah. There is urgent need of railway overpass in Kalna”, she said.
Click here for full speech of Mamtaz Sanghamita.