Lok Sabha – Page 44 – All India Trinamool Congress

Abhishek Banerjee speaks in discussion on Budget (General) 2015-16 | Transcript

Posted on March 16, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Deputy Speaker Sir, I offer my respect and regards to all the senior members of this House and seek their cooperation, blessings and support. I rise to speak today on the Union Budget 2015-16. I rise today to tell everyone a story of comparisons. A story of what was said and what has been done. A story of what was advertised in election campaigns and what has remained unfulfilled in nine months. A story of what BJP spoke while in Opposition and now their actions after coming to power.

So, it’s a very simple theme. What was said… What has been done… Let me give you ten examples.

I. Let me start with my first example. Let’s start with federalism.

What was said?

“Congress-led UPA Govt destroys India’s federal democratic structure. Sharing and caring in federalism is a must for a strong India.”

When was this said? In the year of 2012.

Who said it? The then Chief Minister of Gujarat and the current Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi

What has been done?

They talk about increased devolution to the states. This is just mere an exaggeration. The share of gross receipts to the States last year was 61.88 paise to the rupee. What is it this year? 62. There has been a small increase of only 0.12 paise.

The same BJP who made hollow promises about federalism, now have delinked 8 schemes from Central funding and that includes important schemes life modernisation of Police Forces, Backward Regions Grant Fund, Export Infrastructure, Krishi Vikas Yojana etc.

The Government spoke about ‘Act East’ in the Budget. The phrase he should have used is BLUFF EAST. Because you do not even have to look at the fine print to realise that there is no extra funds for states like West Bengal and Bihar.

So may I say with all humility, dignity and respect – the founding fathers of the Constitution did not perceive the Budget to just be a wishlist. Where are the hard numbers I would like to know.

Where is the provision in your Budget for any kind of money for states like Bihar and Bengal?

Why have your allotments been cut down for key social sectors?

I am registering my protest today from this August House. In a year from now, the people of Bengal and the people of Bihar will also register their protest. I am doing it in this special building today, they will do it through the power of the ballots.

Sir, let me give you one example of what they said and what they do. The government with bandwagon started a scheme called Beti Bachao Beti Padhao. This closely resembles the Kanyashree scheme of the West Bengal Government, which was started by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee. The fund allocation in the Union Budget for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao is mere Rs 100 Crore for the entire country which includes 29 States and 7 Union Territories.

For the much acclaimed, UN-appreciated Kanyashree scheme, do you know how much the West Bengal Govt has allocated for one year? Not Rs 100 Crore. Not Rs 200 Crore. Not Rs 300 Crore… not Rs 400 Crore… not Rs 500 Crore. It is Rs 1000 Crore just for one state. That is what West Bengal has achieved. Sir, actions speak louder than words.

Let me give a solid example of federalism in action. Sir, you will be happy to know that States have been fiscally more responsible than the Centre. Average fiscal deficit of states is around 3%. Centre has the advantage of falling oil prices. Yet the Finance Minister set back fiscal deficit target of 3% by 1 year, while also contracting social sector spending.

II. Debt stressed states, my second point:

What was said?

“For the development of West Bengal and to remove poverty and unemployment, whatever big package is necessary, we will give it and we will cooperate fully.”

When was this said? April, 2014.

Who said it? The then BJP President and the current Home Minister Rajnath Singh

What has been done?

Just one word – Nothing. Instead, West Bengal has paid Rs 1 lakh crore in the last three years as instalments for debt repayment. We demand a moratorium for restructuring of the loan of last three years but nothing has happened. Grants in Aid have also been reduced to Rs 8849 crores in 2015-16 and there are 716 panchayats in the state of West Bengal which are still completely unbanked. I would like to ask the Hon’ble Finance Minister and Hon’ble Prime Minister of this country and the Central Government when can we start this scheme so that the people in districts under Panchayats get benefitted as there is absolutely no facility over there.

III. Black Money, my third issue. What was said. What has been done.

What was said?

“If our party forms the government at the Centre, it would bring back all the black money stashed in foreign banks within 150 days. The money brought back would be spent on the welfare schemes and for the poor people of the country.”

When was this said? May, 2014

Who said it? Rajnath Singh ji

What has been done?

The government has not made any progress in bringing back black money. This government is also speaking in the same language that of UPA II on the issue. In fact, Sir, even the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address now has a mention of the failure of this government to bring back black money from foreign countries. Whenever they are being asked when it is coming back, they say it is on the way. I am wondering whether it is coming by companies like Blue Dart, FEDEX, for that matter DHL or by flight. Who is bringing back the money. Can we have tracking or shipment number so that the, so that we as Indians can track it and get to know when are the people of the country actually getting that Rs 15 lakh for their welfare.

Sir, this is why our Chairperson Ms Mamata Banerjee has been electoral reforms

As we at All India Trinamool Congress always believe that black money leads to money power; money power leads to muscle power. Muscle power and money power together is a poisonous, potent, lethal mix in a Parliamentary democracy that too especially in the world’s largest democracy. That is why, we have always demanded electoral reforms. We did not hear a single word on electoral reforms on this budget. Electoral reforms is the need of the hour in the country. State funded elections are a necessity for weeding out corruption in this vibrant democracy.

IV. Taxation is the fourth issue and most imperative one I believe. What was said. What have they done.

What was said?

“You have decided — and every society decides — to tax people who earn. So, you tax people for what they earn. You have now decided to tax people for what they spend.”

When was this said? 2013

Who said it? Arun Jaitley ji, the Hon’ble Finance Minister

What has been done?

Sir, the service tax has actually been increased from 12.36 % to 14% and this is one of the most important taxes of the country, which will actually affect the lifestyle of the poor people. They make essential commodities and services more expensive.

V. Social Sector Indicators, my fifth point.

What was said?

“This has very little to offer, especially to the sectors which needed some help. First they put economy in distress then they come with some cosmetic changes. This is juggling.”

When was this said? 2013.

Who said it? Arun Jaitley ji

What has been done?

Social Sector Indicators of this government are poor. Some facts and figures

Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation – 35% decrease in allocation
After adjusting for inflation, expenditure for Rural Development and WCD is in fact less than previous budgets
School education – 1.7% decrease
Environment, forests and climate change – 11.1% decrease
Water resources – 41.9% decrease
New and renewable energy – 68.3% decrease

Sir, they started with bandwagon, they have opened a few crores bank accounts as part of Jandhan Yojona Scheme, Sir let me tell you and let me tell the people of the country the truth about Jandhan Yojona. The truth is we do not care whether it is crores or lakhs, millions or billions that bank accounts have been opened, the fact is 98% of those accounts have zero balance in reality. That is the failure of Central Government, the NDA Government.

VI. Sir, my sixth point is MGNREGA. Sir, I had the honour to speak on MGNREGA is the 193 discussion. I have still not received the answers from the Central Government.

What was said?

“The scheme should instill pride of contributing to the country’s growth in everyone. Hundred days of working for the country’s growth. You need to take people into confidence while planning for them.”

When was this said? 2013

Who said it? Then Chief Minister of Gujarat who is the current prime minister of the country.

What has been done?

Sir, this grand scheme that ensures employment for the rural masses is now plagued by the issue of reduced funding. There are problems in transmission of funds to states. Sir, this is something that gives employment to five crore people. The Government talks about Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology and principles. They have used Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles rims in one of their advertisement campaigns of Swach Bharat, unfortunately this Government has not lived upto the values and expectations of the great Mahatma Gandhi. They have failed to champion the ideals and values of principles and morals of the Father of the Nation. That is another failure.

When the Finance Minister says if the expenditure of revenue of the country we will think of adding another additional Rs 5000 crore to the scheme, it is something I as a Indian will be ashamed of.

VII. Women Empowerment

What was said?

“The empowerment of women is an important pre-condition for the development of humanity.”

When was this said? 2013

Who said it? The then Chief Minister of Gujarat and the current Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi

What has been done?

Nirbhaya Fund, increased to Rs 1000 crore, has remained unspent till now. Who is going to spend it and how? I would like to know from this Government as a member of this August House

The Ministry of Women and Child Development had proposed to set up 660 rape crisis centres across the country. The number has been reduced to 36. PMO says this is “waste of money”. Sir, what times are we living in? When we talk about women development, I would like to ask the Prime Minister, I would like to ask the representative of the Government what good are your speeches in the lands of Australia, in the lands of America, in the lands of China when the women of this country cannot walk in the roads safely. What is the point if my sister, my colleague, my friend want to walk by the India Gate at 9 o’clock in the night and get murdered in front of the monumental heritage. Can they do that? I am shamed as an Indian, it is extremely nauseating to know that those rapist, those gropers, those culprits at Tihar Jail are having biriyanis and giving interviews to channels like BBCs justifying their stand on Nirbhaya as an Indian I feel ashamed and it is a disgrace to the Nation.

Let me tell you another thing you are talking The national average for women in terms of reservation is 11%. Mamata Banerjee is the only leader in the country who has got out to 46 MPs in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha we have got 12 women MPs in the House. That’s 35.2%. This is something we are proud of.

VIII. Children, my eighth point. What was said. What has been done.

What was said?

“India is a youthful nation. If you are determined nothing can stop you from determining your dreams.”

When was this said? 2014

Who said it? Hon’ble Prime Minister

What has been done?

In the Budget, the Finance Minister slashed the allocation for ICDS by 50%. 1 in 3 children, in India our country is malnourished.

Infant mortality and maternal mortality is high as sub-Saharan countries. 50% of students in class V are unable to read a class II level text. Concern for social sector is just in words, not in action. Promises made but not delivered.

IX. Infrastructure development:

What was said?

“Aapne pichle varsh Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana ke liye 20,699 crore rupay rakhe. How much did you spend? Rs 8,100 crore! These are the infrastructure programmes; one is the rural infrastructure and the other is the highways and the national infrastructure…”

When? 2013

Who said it? Arun Jaitley ji

What has been done?

Allocation for National Livelihood Mission decreased by 12%

In spite of all the talk of river development, drinking water, renewable energy and helping the North-East, budgetary support has been cut. For water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation allocation is down by 80%. For drinking water and sanitation under the State plan, it’s down 60%.

35% increase to Road Transport and Highways but the allocation for the Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojana has fallen. Bengal is a matter of fact is still being owedRs 3000 crore as part of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojona. Bengal as a matter of fact is still be owed Rs 1000 crore as a part of 100 days work though we are number one in what we do.

Sir, let me just conclude by saying ;

What was said?

“The Finance Minister’s Vote on Account was nothing but a failed attempt to gloss over the failures of the government. This tendency of taking hurried decisions without consulting major stakeholders increases uncertainty.”

Who said this? Rajnath Singh

When? March, 2014

Sir, I have presented a few examples of what the BJP government said when they were in Opposition and what they have done when they have come to the helm of affairs, Sir it is just misguiding and misleading people with promises of ache din. I just only want to say there is a HUGE gap between what they have said and what they have done.

Budget I as a common man or fellow Indian, as citizen of India general Budget is something that the entire country always looks upto. The Budget is generally termed as Annual Financial Statement. According to Article 112 of the Constitution of India term it as AFS or use it as acronym I have derived of a new meaning after seeing this Budget or watching this Budget or hearing this Budget. AFS does not stand for Annual Financial Statement it stands for – Absolute Fictitious Statement.

What I believe, is that this Government does not know what they are doing and continuously misleading the people. The Government is trying to find a black cat, on a dark road in a dark night which is not there. So I would rest by case and leave it to your judgement for that.

Thank you.

Saugata Roy speaks during discussion on the Budget (General) 2015-2016 | Transcript

Posted on March 16, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Thank you Madam.

I rise to speak on the Budget presented by Sri Arun Jaitley and I hope that he will be back soon to listen to our points. I have also listened very carefully to the speeches made by Sri Veerappa Moily, Sri Hukmdev Narayan Yadav and Sri Thambidurai.

I shall try to avoid duplication of whatever they have said. I also came to Lok Sabha in 1977. Hukmdev Narayan Yadav Ji said a few minutes back. From a lohiyavadi he has become a hindutyavadi. I want to address my questions to him only.

The Finance Minister has started by talking about the successes of the Government like Jan Dhan, coal auction and Swach Bharat. He has also talked about the Government’s plan up to 2022. Nobody knows, whether they will be in power till then.

Madam, the Budget speech appears to be self congratulatory. The Finance Minister has said that the opportunity has arisen, because we have created it. Let me, examine his statement. Inflation is certainly down, and so is Current Account Deficit. But this has more to do with the fall in the international crude prices, from $110/ barrel in June 2014 to $57/ barrel currently. Instead of passing on the benefits of the decline to the consumer, the Government has hiked Excise Duty to petrol and diesel by Rs 7.75 and Rs 6.5 per litre respectively, mopping up thousands of Crores of additional revenues.

The Finance Minister claims that he has been successful, but in the last financial year, the gross tax revenue have fallen by Rs 1.13 lakh Crore from the budget estimates last year and direct and indirect tax collections have fallen on all heads. This poses questions on the growth revival story.

The Finance Minister said that the growth rate is 7.4%. This is questioned by his own department, in the Economic Survey. The Economic Survey says, “Notwithstanding the new estimates, the balance of evidence and caution council in favour of viewing India, as a recovery rather than surging economy.”

So, 7.4% may not have been achieved, it is only due to the change of indices by the Central Statistical Organisation, that the Government has claimed that there is a great growth and we are a surging economy.

I wanted Hukmdev Narayan Yadav Ji to be present.

Now let me point out to him what the Government has done with regard to taxes. They have not raised the Income Tax exemption limit from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. This has been criticized by nobody other than Sri Yashwant Sinha, the father of our young Minister of State for Finance. This was also included in the BJP’s Election Manifesto but they have not fulfilled it.

Now Indirect Taxes are up by Rs 23000 crore, direct taxes are down by Rs 8300 crore which means what? Indirect taxes mean a pressure on the consumer. Increase in prices. Direct taxes directly target individuals so this is an anti middle-class step.

Then what they have done? Corporate Tax for the big corporates are being reduced by 5% by 2017. Also Wealth Tax has been abolished. GAAR the General Anti-Avoidance Rules applied to big corporates investing outside has been deferred by two years. So this is a corporate friendly budget. I do not know what Hukumdev Narayan Yadav of Congress would be saying because there are no concession to the middle class, to the common man rather the corporate tax is being reduced. For whom is this target?

Now let me go to some of the Budget estimates. What are the headings under which there has been budget cut – he was talking about kisans. This is the most anti farmer budget in many years. Agriculture has been cut by 14.3%. National Food Security Mission has been lowered by Rs 530 crore. Only the Prime Minister’s Krishi Sinchai Yajona has been increased to make the Prime Minister happy. What about education? Education has been slashed by 16.5%. School education has been cut by 25%. This will affect the mid-day scheme. Primary education ‘Sarba Shikshya Aviyan’, has been cut by 22%.

Now important schemes such ICDS, which gives health food to children. The Budget has been cut from Rs 16316 crore to Rs 8000 crores, to keep the poor children hungry. Sir, even the National Rural Livelihood Mission (MGNREGA) which used to give jobs in rural areas, has been cut from Rs2034 crore to Rs 1800 crore. Sir, NRHM, has remained at the same level. So the every scheme which benefits the poor rural people has seen a cut. If you call this pro poor, pro kisan where kisans budget has been cut, I oppose.

Now the Finance Minister has talked big about devolution of resources. He said look we have accepted the Finance Commission’s recommendations which has suggested devolution from 32% to 42%. But what is actually the total devolution? Whereas he has given with one hand, he has taken away with the other. You will be surprised to know that increase in devolution is Rs.1.36 lakh crore but the Centrally sponsored schemes, grants and loans have been cut by Rs 1.34 lakh crore. So actually from 61.9 devolution is only 62.8%

Now, let me say, basically this Government does not believe in devolution of resources. Look at the case of West Bengal. I shall give you some statistics, Sir. They say that they have helped West Bengal. The Finance Commission has not been favourable to West Bengal, because they included in their criterion of a forest cover of 7.5%. What has happened because of that? Madhya Pradesh, which has got a much lower population than West Bengal, has got 7.54% share of the States, whereas West Bengal has got only a share of 7.34%.

West Bengal with a much larger population has got the same level of Madhya Pradesh. Bihar has got less population than West Bengal, but it has got 9.665%. So, even in the devolution by the Finance Commission of which Government cannot take credit, because like all other previous Governments, they have accepted the recommendations of the Finance Commission, we have suffered.

The Finance Minister can well come and say that, he has given West Bengal some revenue deficit grant of Rs 11,000 Crore. Out of this Rs 11,000 Crore, only Rs 8,500 Crore is being paid this year. We have to pay Rs 31,000 Crore to the centre for loans incurred by the previous Left Front Government. So, we are in fact paying Rs 23,000 Crore extra.

Our Chief Minister came and pleaded that please defer the collection of the past loans and interest on it, otherwise your Rs 11,500 Crore will be chicken feed. The Centre has not listened. We have paid interest on loans of Rs 82,000 Crore in the last three and half years, out of which Rs 76,000 Crore relates to the previous Government.

Now, let me come to the main thing, why this Government is called as anti poor. They are cutting the schemes of ICDS because they will introduce new scheme of sharing. The new scheme of sharing has three categories. One category is that they will fully funded by the Centre. The second category is that they will be shared between the State and the Centre in a changed pattern. The third category is where the Centre will not pay a single rupee.

The BRGF, which earlier helped the backward region of the country, has been abolished. The Centre will not pay a single rupee. So, 23 schemes will be funded by the Centre, 13 schemes will be shared between Centre and State and there are schemes which are totally de-linked like BRGF, modernisation of police, which you mentioned, national e-governance plan will not get a single rupee from the Centre.

What do we see about the Centre? What is their road map? What is their policy? If you study carefully, their policy can be summed up like this.

A) Their fiscal roadmap is a compression of public spending on welfare measures. Centre will not pay any money on the welfare of the poor people.

B) The narrowing focus on public investment on sectors like railways, road, defence and hoping to trigger a recovery in the private investment.

C) The tax give-aways to corporate sectors and financial elite.

D) Mopping up revenues through increase in indirect taxes, disinvestment and hike in user charges.

Now what is their formula. Their formula is cut all these welfare measures. Give extra Rs 70,000 crore to invest in infrastructure then maybe the growth rate will rise. This Government believes in a top down approach, they believe in trickle down approach. No help for poorer people. No help for agriculturist, workers, students, youth, nobody. We will create wealth at the top by the corporates slowly it will trickle down below. We are against this.

The whole policy of the Government, the ‘modinomics’ that has been expostulated by the Finance Minister is an anti-poor step.

What does reforms mean for them? Reforms mean the new Land Law which we have opposed tooth and nail. New coal auction law. New mines and minerals law . Increase in FDI in Insurance. Increase in FDI in Defence. So money will come from the Corproates and from the foreigners. Open the door for them – remove GAAR. Vodafone may buy over Hutchinson in Mauritius but run the business in India and not pay a single rupee in taxes, that is why I appreciate Jayant’s father, Yashwant Sinha. He said GAAR should have been included this year, General Anti-Avoidance Rules. This people who buy companies abroad should be made to pay here but the present Government does not believe. What is its motto? Its motto is corporatize. Make everything into a corporation. They are now proposing to corporatize the ports run by the government against which the port workers are going on strike. They want to corporatize the ordinance factories. They want to privatise airports. They want to privatise whatever is in Government’s hand and if it is to believe Sir, this year Rs 65000 crore they are hoping to get through public sector disinvestment. This is like selling the family silver. This is what the Government is doing at the alter of the corporates, hoping that this will trigger a growth, take India to new heights.

India will not advance in this way. Sir, we are opposed to this total philosophy of the Government which takes away the nutritious food the children are getting. This will take away the mid-day meal because they are saying states will do this. Now, states you give them 42% untied funds. The states have their own priority. They may build irrigation dams, build roads then what will happen to the ICDS children? They what will happen to the mid-day meals? What will happen to the poorer sections of people for whom a Centrally sponsored meal was a guide. Please isko implement karo, that will go. The poor will become poorer.

This is not the way for India. What they are saying we have given more power to the state, as I said they have not devolved more money. I am reminded of a Urdu sher which says – panchhi jo urti hai, chaman badal gaya, haste hai sitare toh gagan badal giya. Aaj shamashan ki khamoshi bata rahi hai lash wohi hai sirf kafan badal gaya.

They are the same only they have given a new packaging. Mr Jaitley’s Budget is nothing but a packaging on behalf of the corporates.

Thank you.

Trinamool MPs criticise the Union Budget 2015-16 in Parliament

Posted on March 16, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Updated last 21.00 hrs, 16 March 2015

Saugata Roy today spoke on the Union Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha. He severely criticised the Government for the lack of direction and called the budget as ‘anti-poor’.

“The Budget is full of promises and talks, but it definitely has a direction. The direction is towards the economic inequality. As someone said, they have failed the fiscal test, the test of equity and rising inequality”, said Saugata Roy.

He further criticised the Government for cutting down funds for centrally sponsored schemes. “Their fiscal roadmap is a compression of public spending on welfare measures. Centre will not pay any money on the welfare of the poor people”, he said.

He severely criticised the Government for increase of Indirect Taxes, and tax benefits to the corporate sector.

“Corporate Tax for the big corporate is being reduced by 5% by 2017. Also Wealth Tax has been abolished. GAAR the General Anti-Avoidance Rules, applied to big corporate investing outside has been deferred by two years. So this is a corporate friendly budget”, he observed.

Saugata Roy also highlighted the failure of the Government in bringing back the Black Money slashed abroad.

He spoke about the devolution of funds to West Bengal. West Bengal, despite having a larger population than Bihar has only got 7.34% of the share of the State, while Bihar has got 9.665% and Madhya Pradesh, with much lower population has got 7.54%.

“West Bengal got some revenue deficit grant of Rs 11,000 Crore. Out of this Rs 11,000 Crore, only Rs 8,500 Crore is being paid this year. We have to pay Rs 31,000 Crore to the centre for loans incurred by the previous Left Front Government”, he said.

Click here for the full speech of Saugata Roy

Abhishek Banerjee came down heavily on the Government for failed promises and factually dismissed the hollow claim of cooperative federalism. He said that this Budget is no longer the ‘Annual Financial Statement’ (AFS) but is now an ‘Absolute Fictitious Statement.

He said, “The Government spoke about ‘Act East’ in the Budget. The phrase he should have used is bluff east”, he said. He reminded the House that Rajnath Singh had promised of a package for Bengal, but in reality nothing has happened.

Abhishek Banerjee said, “I am registering my protest today from this August House. In a year from now, the people of Bengal and the people of Bihar will also register their protest.”

The allotment for social sector schemes has been reduced drastically.

“There has been a Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation 35% decrease in allocation. After adjusting for inflation, expenditure for Rural Development and WCD is in fact less than previous budgets, School education there is a 1.7% decrease. Environment, forests and climate change there is a 11.1% decrease, in water resources there is a 41.9% decrease and in new and renewable energy a 68.3% decrease”, he said.

The Government had promised to bring back the Black Money to the people but yet 98% of the bank accounts under Jan Dhan Yojona remain at zero balances.

Abhishek Banerjee criticised heavily on Government’s road map on women empowerment. The ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme has allocations of only Rs 100 Crores, while the Kanyashree scheme in Bengal has an allocation of nearly Rs 1000 Crore.

He said, “Nirbhaya Fund, increased to Rs 1000 Crore, has remained unspent till now. The Ministry of Women and Child Development had proposed to set up 660 rape crisis centres across the country. The number has been reduced to 36.”

Even on the count of Infrastructure Development. Money has been slashed on Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojona, National Livelihood Mission, Ganga rejuvenation allocation and others.

He concluded by saying, “What I believe is that this Government does not know what they are doing and continuously misleading the people.”

Click here for full speech of Abhishek Banerjee

Budget for Education has been slashed by 16.5% : Saugata Roy | Transcript

Posted on March 13, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Today the All India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation, AIFUCTO, is holding a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest against the Government’s step motherly attitude towards college and university professors long pending demands and to highlight their career problems.

Due to inordinate delay of Minister of Human Resource Development’s concurrence, the University Grants Commission decision for the notification regarding modification in UGC Regulations passed by 497th Commission Meeting held on 10 January 2014 i.e. pending for a year, benefits of career advancement scheme are not being given.

Besides this, there is a drastic reduction in budgetary allocations for HRD. This year the budget for education has been slashed by 16.5%. The Government is not considering their demand, to constitute a Pay Revision Committee as the college and university teachers are not covered by the Central Pay Commission.

The Government is not ready to hear their demands or give them an appointment to meet the Human Resource Development Minister.
We urge the Government to immediately call the Federation, the only All India Organisation of College and University Teachers for a discussion and take immediate steps to give the necessary concurrences set by UGC to MHRD. Otherwise, the College and University teachers may go on an indefinite strike.

Thank you.

Mamtaz Sanghamita speaks on Rail Budget 2015-16| Transcript

Posted on March 12, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

I have only two minutes in hand, I am not going to waste my time by praising or displeasing Hon’ble Minister or the Rail Budget.

There is no local train between Durgapur and Bardhaman. You may be knowing, Bardhaman is a very old growing town which has universities, medical colleges and is an agricultural belt. Durgapur is a steel city and an industrial city. There is no local train from Durgapur to Howrah. As you may be understanding there is heavy rush of daily passengers including students and office goers. There is also no local train between Katwa and Sealdah, it is also a very thickly populated.

There is Gomo local which is running between Bardhaman and Gomo. It is a long journey of six hours and you will be surprised to know that no toilet facility is provided and same thing is with Purulia local which runs between Purulia and Howrah, which takes at least three and half hours and if it is late it can go up to four to five hours. You can well imagine the situation of women and senior citizens.

There is urgent need of railway overpass in Kalna railway gate in the outskirts of Bardhaman town just connecting to the famous GT Road passing through the heart of Bardhaman town and having heavy traffic load and urgency of ambulance.

Also there is a need of Talit level gate overpass which is needed for Suri Road which is connecting National Highway 34 to North Bengal, Sikkim etc. I would like to bring your notice the importance of this overpass is that there is mineral and coal transport, tourist vehicles to Bolpur and North Bengal, Sikkim and Bhutan.

Let me talk about another important issue, the issue of security arrangement. There are no security arrangements in the ladies compartments in trains running between Bardhaman and Kolkata, specially in the evening time.

The hawkers, in the local trains are sometimes a big menace and very disturbing. The females in the ladies compartment also feel insecure due to them. There is a need to have a specified ID card for the hawkers.

There is a very narrow over bridge at Bardhaman station, above the GT road.

Food and water are essential requirements for a railway journey. It is presently served by IRCTC in platforms. They often serve junk food mostly. The local vendors should be hygienically supervised and be allowed to sell food also.

Arpita Ghosh speaks on Railway Budget 2015-16 | Transcript

Posted on March 12, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Bahut bahut dhanyavad, aaj mujhe is ahem mudde par bolne ka mauka diya gaya. Sir, iske pehle jab kabhi bhi Budget ki time ati thi, mai TV ya newspaper ke madhyam se janne ki koshish karti thi, ki hume kya mila. Matlab, hum jaise aam janta ko kya mila.

Par, is bar hamare leader Mamata Banerjee aur hamare kshetra ki janta ki badalaut se yeh Sadan me a kar Budget sunne ki mauka mili. Main unke bhi abhari hu. Is bar session me baith kar Budget sunte waqt, har waqt yehi sunne ki chah thi ki ,hume kya milegi. akhir me nirasha chhor ke, kuch bhi nehi mili.

Sir, chand dino pehle humare Pradhan Mantri ji ne yesi Sadan me federal structure ke baath kiye tha. Rajya aur kendra ki mili bhagat kam karne ki baath kar rahe the. Unhone yeh bhi bole bharatvarsh ki purbi kshetra thora pichhe chal rahi hai, aur is kshetra ki development ke liye, woh vishesh udyog lenge. Aur jaha tak mujhe pata hai, Paschim Bangal bhi usi purbi kshetra main ati hai.

Par Rail Budget main dekha gaya Paschim Bangal ke liye Prabhuji ne kuch bhi nehi diye. Main hairan reh gayi.

Mai ek pichre huye kshetra se Sansad banne ayi hu, Balurghat Lok Sabha kendra jo north Bengal main parti hai. Jab Mamata Di, Rail Mantri thi, unhone mere kshetra me pehle bar rail line layi thi aur kahi 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. Yeh wagon factory banne se bahut logo ki roji-roti intejam ho jata. Par, hairani ki baath yeh hai, ki Mamata ji Rail Mantrak chhorne ki baad se humare waha kaam bandh pare ha. Koi allotment nahi ho rahi hai. Ajeeb baath to yeh ha,i kuch project ki zikar bhi nehi hai. Balurghat – Hili Rs 200 Crore ki project mein Mamata ji chhorne ki baad keval Rs 2 Crore mila hai.

Funds ki namo-nishan nahi hai. Kolkata Metro ke halat bhi waisa hi hai. Jitne bhi projects Bengal se hai, zada tar projects mein koi allotments nehi hui hai aur bakiyo ki allotments ne hone ki barabar hai.

Sir, hamare mannaniya Rail Mantri Budget Speech mein bataye they ki Bharat ka Railways manchitra dhamniyo ki aisa network hai jo Bharatiyo arth vyavastha ki hriday mein jivandayi rakt ka sancharan karti hain. Mein namrata ke sat unko puchhna chahta hun, agar hriday ki kisi kone mein rakt sanchalan dhimi ho jaye ya bandh ho jaye, kya hriday ki dhadkan hi bandhi nahi ho jayenge?

Sir, mujhe yeh samajh mein nahi araha hai ke aisa kyon hua? Jab khud Rail Mantriji ne apne speech mein itni dawe ke saath strong political will ki baat bataein hai, mujhe koi ashanka ho rahi hai ki unki aankhon ki roshni Bengal tak na pahuchneki ka karan bhi strong political will nahi hai toh? Age chalke yeh baat galat sabit ho toh mujhse jaada khusi aur kisi ko nahi hogi, yeh baat bhi mein dabe se kah sakti hun, par abhi filhal yeh sochne ke siva aur koi chara bhi nahi nahi hai.

Mahilao ke safety ki leye kuchh alag hi sochenge yeh Rail Mantriji khud batyei hai magar kya sochonge nahi bataye. Mahilayo ke liye mahila bahini ke jo jikar Mamata Banerjee ke Budget me thi who bhi kahi dikhai nahi diye.

Aam janta ke liye ke soch hai Mantriji ki yoh bhi nazar nahi aye.

Nazar aye to keya aye? Mobile charging points badai jayegi, kuch Wi-Fi ki baat sunai di, kuch speedy trains, bullet trains, yeh sab shunai di. Is ikkis wi sadi mein jab Wi-Fi ki baatein chal rahi hai, sayed hamara Rail Mantri bhul gayi hai ke mere kshetra ki Hili, Kushmandi jaisa bahut sare aise jaiga hamare desh mei hai jaha abhi tak rail line nahi pahuchi ya sanctioned project bandh pari hui hai.

Mantriji ne Budget ko Rs 1,00,000 Crore bataye hai, General Budget se Rs 40,000 Crore aur rail earning se Rs 17,000 Crore ki bat batain gayi hai. Baki Rs 47,000 Crore ka bandavast kaha se hogi, uski koi zikr nahi hai.

Sir, humein khed hai is baat ki, ki jivan mein pehli bar Sadan mein baithke jo Rail Budget samne mein ayi, who bahut hi aspasht aur dhundhla hai. Koi spasht rup samne mein nahi ayi hai. Ayi hai to kano mein gunjnewale kuch shabdo, ayi hai to kabhi sach na honewale sapne.

Mantriji, ho sake to us shabdo ko kuch rachna banaiye, ho sake to us dhundhle hue sapno ko sach kijiye aur Bengal ko Railway Map mei jaiga dijiye. Hamare jitney bhi budgets hai, uske bare mein dobara sochiye, khaskar mere sansad kshetra Balurghat ke projects ko sakar kijiye.

Dhanyavad.

Pratima Mandal speaks on Budget (Railways) 2015-16 | Transcript

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Sir, Rail humara jivan me gati lati hai. Yehi hai vigyan ka ek sresht ashwirvad. Bhartiye rail par humara garv hai.

Sir, two Hon’ble Members of my party already spoke on Railway Budget and covered all the points.

Sir, my constituency is Joynagar which is mainly a coastal based area. Sunderbans which is a famous mangrove forest and Royal Bengal Tiger habitat, is also situated under my constituency. I would like to state here two projects which are under my constituency and have become an urgent necessity.

Sir, Canning to Bhangankhali, it is the project of the then Hon’ble Railway Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee which is still pending. I would like to request the Hon’ble Minister, through you Sir, to start the project and would also like to request to kindly extend the project of Bhagankhali to Gadkhali.

People from Sunderbans come to Kolkata for their daily need. I would also like to inform the Hon’ble Minister, through you Sir, that train journey from Sealdah to Namkhana takes three hours. Sir, I would like to request the Hon’ble Minister to introduce one or two galloping train so that people reach their destination within a shorter time.

At the same time, I would also like to request the Hon’ble Minister, through you Sir, to extend this line from Namkhana to Bakkhali. Bakkhali is an attractive tourist stop, so that people from different parts of West Bengal can reach there easily. I would like to finally request the Hon’ble Minister to kindly sanction funds for these two projects.

Trinamool MPs criticise the Government on Railway Budget 2015-16

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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.

A complete overhaul of railways is needed: Ratna De Nag |Transcript

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Deputy Speaker Sir, I would like to start with a word of appreciation to the Railway Minister for not hiking the fares.

However that BJP Government after taking over the reins of the Government, BJP led NDA Government increased the burden on the common people by raising the passenger fares and there is no surety that they would not hike the fares of the passengers in time.

Ours is a vast railway network. In 1947, we had railway network of nearly 50,000 km, whereas China had 27,000 km. Now China has about 1,10,000 kms whereas India has only 65,000 kms of railway network. We have to make great strides, if we have to cater to the ever growing population of India.

No new trains have been announced. At least the Railway Minister should have come with the projects that he is planning to complete during the year. By doing so, it seems that he himself is apprehensive about the capabilities of the Railways in executing the pending projects.

Sir, the Government is focusing on infrastructure. It may be of some help in the long run.

The matters of prime importance are safety of women and safety of passengers on train. As per an estimate, more than 2000 persons died in nearly 800 railway accidents in the past year.

There is no indication of customer friendly approach i.e. putting the passenger first. The focus should be on ensuring safety and accessibility to the amenities of railways by opening up more and more railway reservation offices and more counters should be opened in existing railways booking centres. Let us hope, that some passenger related amenities will be included in Vision Document 2030, which he intends bring out in near future.

I think the cleanliness drive should start from the Railways as crores of people use railways every day. But there is no cleanliness. I doubt, whether Minister’s expansion programme will go in the right directs with so many problems in it.

There is a need to reduce fare of the tatkal charges and cancellation charges too, should be reduced considerably. More companies of women RPF personnel and another eight companies should be formed with a view to strengthen the security of women passengers.

Effort should be ensured that freedom fighters are taken care of. When they approach the Railway authorities, they should be helped, going out of the way.

Number of sleeper classes in the train should be increased considerably as common man travels in this category, to be precise, 90% of the people travel in this category. More and more toilets, waiting room and benches, both in major stations and small stations should be constructed for the convenience of the railway passengers.

The Railway Minister vowed to give birth to the railway network in four years. Only time will tell about this exalted wish or claim.

There has been a hike by 10% on freight. I am in the opinion that this freight hike would have repercussions on prices of essential commodities. Another plan for elimination 3,438 level crossings in a financial year is a welcome measure, but is it attainable? Is Rs 6581 Crore sanctioned for the same, enough?

Sir, West Bengal has been neglected in this Budget. I would like to draw attention of the Hon’ble Minister regarding the Dankuni factory, which produces parts of the Railway electric engines. This is located on the Howrah – Bardhaman cord in Hooghly district which is my district. This will go a long way in catering to the needs of the Railways in and around areas.

Unfortunately, Rs 265.95 Crore what was only sanctioned for 2013-14, but till March 2014 only Rs 188.02 Crore has been spent. In 2014-15 Railway Budget only Rs 33.92 Crore was allocated. In 2015-16 Budget a meagre sum of Rs 2.51 Crore is allocated. This defies logic.

How can we complete this project with such a meagre allocation and that too in a piecemeal method?

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. Now in the current Railway Budget very little fund has been sanctioned. I strongly urge the Railway Minister to allocate more funds and utilise the sanctioned fund.

I will request the Hon’ble Minister, to give utmost importance and priority to the pending projects in West Bengal and ensure its completion as early as possible.

There is a need for executing better delivery mechanism. It is a herculean task for putting Railways on the track. There is a need to improve the sleeper class coaches in the trains. There rakes given to the passengers of sleeper classes and second AC and third AC, should be covered properly.

There is an urgent necessity to increase the speed of the train wherever necessary, as it will not only reduce the journey time but also save the energy.

Hygiene in the trains and in the railway stations needs special and constant attention. Pantry served food item are of lower grade and served in mostly unhygienic condition. This needs immediate attention.

A complete overhaul of railways, in every sense of the word is needed.

This Railway Budget appears to be anti-people, aimless & visionless: Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar | Transcript

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Namashkar Deputy Speaker Sir, Thank you for allowing me to speak on this very important discussion here today.

Humara Prabhu ji here, Prabhu ji se mang kiya aur disha dikhane ki prarthana ki lekin mujhe lagta hai ki Prabhu ji unki kuch bhi nahi sun rahe. Prabhu ji ne desh ki bhi nehi suni, Prabhu ji ne hamara bhi nehi suni, yeh Prabhu ji, na garib ki suni na Prabhuji udyogpati ki suni, na Prabhu ji gharwali ki suni, na Prabhu ji ne kisan ki suni, na Prabhu ji mazdoor ka suni.

Yeh jo unhone pesh kiya isse lagta hai ki woh Prabhu ji woh Prabhu ji is Prabhu ji ka kuch bhi nehi suna.Prabhu ji humara kuch bhi nehi suna. Jo unhono pesh kiya hai hume lagta hai ki yeh budget nehi hai. Yeh budget ka ek chhaya hai. Lagta hai yeh shadow budget hai. Lagta hai ki yeh ek document aisa hai ki desh ki janta ko dhoka dene ka koshish hai.

Isme koi bhi disha nahi hai ki yeh kya karna chahte hai kyuki Budget means a yearly quantitative expression of plans towards assets and liabilities, expenses and variables with a clear road map for the future, for growth of industry concerned.

It is really surprising to note that the Union Railway Budget of this year does not have these features. It clearly appears to be anti-people, aimless and visionless.

I would with all humility request the Hon’ble Minister to go through the Vision 2020 document by Hon’ble Mamata Banerjee, the then Railway Minister when she presented her Budget in 2009 and many projects started during that time have been totally neglected. I don’t know whether it is some kind of political vendetta. I don’t know why these works have been stopped. I just want to point out a very small thing that out of 48 sanctioned projects for RUB and ROB in Eastern India, in West Bengal only five have received funds, that too a petty amount. I don’t know if that amount is enough to buy raw materials.

Show little concern to the people of West Bengal and the country. He has said in his budget speech, that the passenger freights have not been increased.

I would like to draw the kind attention of you Sir, and also to this August House. The first thing this Government did, after coming to power, after being elected by the people, is to take an anti people step of raising the passenger fare with a promise to lower rate, every time the fuel prices were lowered. After that, there have been many times when fuel prices have dipped in international market. So far, we have not received any information of lowering of passenger fare in the country. This is cheating people of the country.

This time the freight fares have been raised. In the previous budget, the passenger fares were increased by 14.2%. In this budget the freight fares were increased by 6.5%. We know that there is a competition between rail and the road for the freight. Why can’t the Railway Minister improve the facilities for the railways, so that the market, being shared by both road and the rail, is taken by the rail? Why can’t low bottom wagons be designed so that the trucks can directly drive into the wagons and be carried to its place and drive away, whether they are laden with coal or other elements?

The present Budget that has being presented to the country is going to affect the core industry. An increase in the freight rates, the core industries like cement, kerosene, urea, food grains and everything is going to be increased. This is going to hit badly, the common man as well as the industry. Growth is going to be restricted. There is a promise that they are trying to initiate growth, but if the core industry is hit then how can growth take place? How can infrastructure be built well?

Yesterday a draconian law was passed and anti person law was passed here. That was supposed to be helping infrastructure. If the freight rate increases, the core industries is going to be hit, so how will infrastructure development take place? In my little brain, I cannot understand. So, I request the Hon’ble Minister to take this into account.

In the same breath, I would also like to point out that from 2009 up to 2011, there has been an increase of the freight volume, carried by the railways, increased to nearly 35%, when Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister. But the last fiscal year has again showed a dip in the freight carrying capacity. So, they should take more attention to the freight, if nation building is one important point that they are looking at.

This will create a burden on the common man, because this will increase the price of the daily used commodities. It will hit the kitchen directly.

In the Budget, it is said that everything will be done with partnership with private players. Our country does not support so much of private activity. It appears that you are going to sell away everything to the private players without proper discussion in the House or addressing the interest of the people.

Trinamool Congress is always committed to the poorest of the poor, to the last man in the last village. We are thinking about that person and at the moment how this Government is functioning it appears to quote Rabindranath Tagore, ‘baniker mandondo dekha dilo rajdondo rupe’ i.e the rulers are trying to act like commercial people. I do not think it is the right attitude.

I would also like to bring to your notice that this Rail Budget appears to be a document, an expansion proposition of an IT company. We are for advancement. We are getting used to sending sms, doing email, we have Wi-Fi zones, that is true but at the same time, this particular document looks like an IT document of the IT sector. It has nothing that we expect from a rail budget.

It has nothing for the 13,33,966 Railway employees. I want to point out that when Hon’ble Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister, she had announced that the families of the Railway workers would get certain benefits which included that the children would get educational facilities. There will be seats reserved for them in the medical and engineering colleges. She would have more hospitals dedicated to them. She also had dedicated number of seats at concessional rates for the media people and cancer patients.

Railway is not only a means of transportation, it is the lifeline of a country, it has social obligations, which is totally misled in this budget.

I would like to bring to the notice of this House, plight of poor people. Imagine a poor farmer woman, she picks up certain vegetables, she carries it on her head and tries to go to the nearest market to sell them. Imagine the plight of a little child going to school with her mother for an examination or imagine a youth carrying his blind father to go to the hospital and the checker comes and ask them for the ticket, they are poor, they do not have the ticket, and they are made to disembark from the train. So what did Mamata Banerjee do? She started the ‘Izzat Ticket’ by which the person could travel at the cost of Rs 25 for the whole month. That is not a ticket that is his izzat. That is the izzat of the poor person. That is the izzat of the poor farmer woman, that is the izzat of the sick old blind man – ‘Izzat Ticket’ has been done away with. I am shocked that this country has to suffer in the hands of such decisions taken by an elected Government.

Certain projects were being undertaken for the poor people of West Bengal. It included the dedicated freight corridor, but it remains to be incomplete. We think, the present Government has no intention to develop not only West Bengal, but also the eight sister states in the eastern part of the country. These eight states, like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and each of them are suffering poor developmental facilities and poor infrastructure. I do not know how many honourable Members are sitting from Assam, but I would like to draw the attention that there are tea pickers Cheragi in the Barak Valley, who cannot sell their products because the rail track does not go into Cheragi.

There are so many poor farmers in the country, who would have benefited from the Kisan Vision document of Mamata Banerjee, by the cold storage that she was planning to do, by the air conditioned carriage system that she was planning to do. None of them has been mentioned in the documents which we have received now.

Sir, with a very heavy heart, I went page after page in the lecture of the Hon’ble Minister. In the speech, I could not find anything for the State of West Bengal. During the tenure of Ms Mamata Banerjee, she had made the 17th Zone, which was the metro zone. Metro is a fast travelling transit system for the urban people. They go to hospitals, schools and everywhere.

In West Bengal, we had metro projects for – Dum Dum to Airport, Noapara to Barasat sector, Baranagar – Barrackpore – Dakhineshwar sector, Airport to New Garia via Rajarhaat, Joka – BBD. None of it has got requisite sanctions. I would like to draw your kind attention Sir, out of the Rs 2081 Crore required for the Barasat sector; only Rs 140 Crore has been allotted. This appears to be a joke to me.

Not very well to do people from urban and rural sectors, take the suburban trains and the rural trains. Among that, not one single train was announced. It is shocking. Even today, if I need to buy a ticket to go to Kolkata, my waiting list will be around 30,40, 50 and whatever. That means there is a demand for the trains. That means, I will have to wait for 29 other people to cancel their tickets and then I will get confirmation. So, what is the harm in adding another coach in the train? I do not understand. You can use these coaches for advertising to earn money but add on coaches can be used for people who are travelling at a low cost. None of it is here. It appears to be a joke that the Kharagpur Workshop has been given one rupee where Rs 10,000 Crore is still remaining. I do not know why these missed the eyes of the Hon’ble Railway Minister.

In light of the above I would draw his attention to the safety security. The safety security needs premier attention. In this country out of the total number of 30348 level crossings, the number of manned level crossings are 18785 and unmanned level crossings are 11563. Out of the accidents that take place, the consequential train accidents related to death and accidents, the highest sharing is by unmanned level crossings which is 43.22%. The death due to consequential type of accidents that is highest due to unmanned level crossing which is 38.03%. These 11000 unmanned level crossing should be manned immediately or ROBs build.

As per as ROBs go, I was pointing out that in the document it says only 5 have been sanctioned for West Bengal. This again appears to be a joke. The life of people living in West Bengal also very important. I have two level crossings, they are no.26 and no.28 in my constituency in Ashok Nagar and Habra. I have been writing from pillar to post during last two years after Hon’ble Ms Mamata Banerjee had left. She had started the survey there and nobody is even bothered that everyday people are dying in these level crossings.

So out of all these unmanned level crossings or the required ROBs and RUBs some concern must be shown Sir.

We would definitely request these projects, not only for the state of West Bengal, not only for the eastern states, but the whole country as it is looking upto you for their Railway projects and with definite stress on the neglected projects of West Bengal I end on the note of request to please look into this and sanction them.

Thank you.