Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar speaks on Demand for Grants for the Ministry of Home Affairs

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar speaks on Demand for Grants for the Ministry of Home Affairs

Posted on March 17, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

I stand here on behalf of All India Trinamool Congress in support for the Demand for Grants for the Home Ministry. But it saddens me that Hon’ble Finance Minister is not here to consider that. Is this not an important subject? In the Budget speech, on page 36, he has given a list of important ministries and Home Ministry is not listed among those. It is saddening that the government does not consider that Home Ministry is important.

I think that internal security is one of the most important issues by which we live safely in this country. The Home Ministry takes care of the internal security and we have the brave jawans who are protecting us. Even before starting I want to pay respect to all jawans who have lost their lives to protect us over the last few years.

I would also like to congratulate this government for selecting a lady as the director general of SSB. I think this is a first time in history a lady is commanding the SSB. I congratulate the Minister. I also would like to request him that there was a decision and he promised to have about 33% reservation for women in the forces. But as of today we have about 6% and these girls are working very hard to protecting us. They are deployed in the international borders; they are maintaining law and order.

This House has very rightly passed the maternity Benefit Bill. I would request the Hon’ble Minister to consider giving the women in the forces a posting close to their homes for two years after they give birth to a child so that they can take of the little future citizens.

I would also like to congratulate this government and Hon. Minister for increase in the scholarship of the children of the jawans and raising the amount of money and the number of children to be included – both boys and girls.

After all the congratulations, let us come to the sour points. Our country has a very long international border. The land border is more than 15,106.7 km and the coastline is 7,516.6 kilometers. We share the borders with eight different countries out of which some are friendly countries; we also have non-friendly neighbouring countries. But the fencing is not complete.

The forces that guard us, guard our motherland, guard our very favourite Bharat Mata, are the Assam Rifles, BSF, CISF, CRPF, SSB, ITBP whose authorised strength has been 9,67,816 but as of today vacancies of 73,464 jawans are lying vacant. I would request, when you are filling them up, honourable Sir, please give cognizance to the girls also who are doing very well. The ladies are doing very well, we’ve been to the borders and we’ve seen how they work hard.

Today we have the foreign terrorist groups, we have the threat of ISIS, we have cyber crime but the budget allocation – right from grant number 46 to 47,48,49 up to 53 – has been reduced. The percentage increase over 2016-17, as far as the grant number 46 is concerned, is minus 48.6 percent. For grant number 48 – for police budget – it is minus 3.65% and overall it is minus 5.93%. Instead of increasing the budget, the budget has gone down.

If we look at the expenditure, then for grant number 46, we have spent least amount in the year 2016-17. Over the last three fiscals, 80 percent funds have only been spent. I wonder how? On one hand when we inquired why the jawans don’t have the mine-protective vehicles in the left wing extremism areas, we were told there is no money to buy those vehicles. But here we see that the money is not being spent. So there surely seems to be a gap between expenditure and the requirement and the allotment. This is a matter of serious concern.

As far as police grant is concerned, if we consider the Budget Estimate, the Revised Estimate and Expenditure, even that is the lowest in the last three fiscals and the whole amount has not been spent. This year for machine and equipment only 1.7% of the whole has been given and for arms and ammunition 1.46% has been given. We think that this has to be increased because when our poor jawans are facing the terrorists they have to be equipped to the T. They have to be more equipped than the terrorists to take them on and protect our motherland. I don’t understand why the allotment has been slashed as far as the cybercrime registry, the crime and criminal tracking system and the left wing terrorism heads.

I would also like to draw the attention of the Hon. Minister here that the condition of women in this country, the safety and security of the women in the country is still at stake. It was only three days ago, on the day of Holi, a young mother was gangraped and to save her life she had to jump from the first floor of a building here in the city of Delhi. So let us imagine the plight of women all over the country, specially in rural areas. She lay on the streets without her clothes for several minutes before an auto-rickshaw wala come and took her to the police station.

We are sometimes talking about a mobile app for women which will come on the smartphones. My question to you, Sir, through Honorable Chair, is how many of our rural women, how many of the agricultural worker women, how many of labourer women have smartphones? Only 27% of this country uses smart phones. So if the app is on a smartphone, no girl while being tortured can dial that app to get the police.

You have to think of some better way by which we can protect our women. The Nirbhaya Fund was not spent and when the Nirbhaya incident had taken place it had been decided that one or two constables will remain in all the buses in the evening. I don’t know whether those constables are still there. The problem remains because we are running short of staff. Like I said, about 73,000 jawans and constables are required for proper functioning but they have not been appointed.

I would also like to draw the attention to the August House, through you Sir, that between July, 2016 and January, 2017, the number of law and order incidents that shook up Jammu & Kashmir was 2392; number of civilians killed was 73 and the number of forces killed was 2.

In the North Eastern region we experienced 484 incidents in which 87 extremists were killed, 17 forces were killed and 48 civilians were killed. It looks like a war has been waged around our borders.

Among the forces, we have an elite force known as the National Security Guard. There are four regional hubs – Kolkata, Chennai Mumbai and Hyderabad. They are doing good. I know about the Kolkata setup because it is located close to the airport. I have been writing and it has been all futile. The hub is just a five minutes drive from the airport but the area is congested. So, I have given one year’s MPLAD fund so that they can build a subway which people can use so that the road is kept empty for the NSG jawans and the 160 battalions of BSF, to reach the airport when the requirement comes.

Through you I would like to request the Hon. Minister if a flyover can be built for them so that they can reach the main road which is about 3 km away from their hub; from there the airport is around 2 km away. God forbid if anything happens in the eastern region of the country they will be able to move very fast. BSF and NSG hubs are located just opposite one another on Badu Road.

I would also like to draw the attention of this August House, through you Sir, that India is, a very large country with a very long international border with a long coastline. It is because of the unguarded coast that we had the misfortune to see the day our enemies took a boat and came up to Maharashtra and shot people dead.

Now, I understand that in the Runn of Kucch in Gujarat there is always water making it difficult to have the fence. I understand that in Sunderbans, we have the tidal waves making it difficult to maintain the fence. But, in spite of the difficulties, we will have to think of something innovative.

For the last seven eight years that I have been talking about this and I have been hearing that we are getting technical support from international friends to have laser, fences, thermal detectors and night vision gadgets. But, till date, that is not there and every night hundreds of infiltrators coming through these open porous borders.

The BSF has to be more careful but they are also standing for hours together, Sir, guarding the borders. So, if we can have more number of jawans, then the shift can be of lesser hours and they can be more alert.

The fencing is not complete anywhere, Sir. As far as Bengal is concerned, see we have about 2,828 km of fencing out of sanctioned 3,326. Similarly, we have this kind of border gaps in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab area.

Sir, in the coastal areas we have these floating BOPs. But I have been time and again requesting that these border outposts which are floating – the speedboats have been given, no doubt, but we don’t have the technology. There are no drivers who can drive the speedboats. So, they are lying. We need technical support for the maintenance of those boats; we need technical support for their total functioning, which is not happening. This should be considered and some funds should be given for this.

The other thing is that the State police is demanding watchtowers. Up to a certain distance, it is the duty of the BSF, and after that it is the responsibility of the State police. Unless we have watchtowers we would not be able to watch the coastal areas when people are coming in at night, and also when animals are being crossed over during the day or night. So money should be sanctioned for building watchtowers, and roads too.

There is so much to say because of the concerns of internal securities, Sir. The defence personnel who are located at high altitudes, beyond 15,000 feet, are not getting enough supplies, Sir. They are our children, they are looking after us. We understand it is very difficult to grow vegetables there, but we are trying, of course; but they are dying either of snowstorms or avalanches. So we have to take care of them in a better way so that they can look after us better.

I would like to draw your august attention to the fact that funds under many heads were left unspent – for example, the funds for the Registrar General of India are fully unspent, then under the heads of town mapping and modernisation of data dissemination, and the filling up of vacant posts. We also need to give special attention to cyber crime and NATGRID. We would be grateful if you could consider these.

Thank you, Sir.

Pratima Mandal speaks on Demands for Grants for Ministry of Defence

Posted on March 17, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

National Security is the most important thing for our country to maintain peace and stability both within and outside the country. India’s strategic location is crucial both for the South Asian region and for the whole world. Of late, terrorism, insurgency and sectarian conflicts are on rise both at national and international arena. Internal security is under threat from cross border terrorism, militancy in the North-East, Left-Wing extremism and terrorism in the hinterland.

Madam, while announcing the allocation for defence, the Finance Minister avoided any mention of the previous year’s allocation. Perhaps it was for a reason. At Rs 2,74,114 crore – excluding the outlay of Rs 85,740 crore for defence pension – it was only 6% more than the comparable Budget Estimate of Rs 2,58,589 crore for 2016-17. The allocation is grossly inadequate to meet the security needs of the country.

The noticeable feature is the gradual decline in the defence budget share in both Central Government expenditure and the GDP with a share of 1.56% of the estimated GDP for 2017-18. This budget is the lowest since 1956-57. Madam, the revenue stores and capital modernisation together play a vital role in the operational preparedness of the Armed Forces. The combination shared of these two elements has declined from 55 per cent in 2007-08 to 40 per cent in 2016-17. The present ratio needs to change for the better for which the allocations under revenue stores and capital modernisation need to be augmented substantially.

Among the Defence Services, the Indian Army, with a budget of Rs 1,49,369 crore, accounts for the biggest share in the Defence budget, followed by the Air Force, the Navy, the DRDO and the ordnance factories. But the bulk of the Army’s budget, nearly 85 per cent goes into meeting pay and allowances. Only 17 per cent of the Army’s total allocation has been earmarked for capital expenditure, whereas for the Air Force, it is 58 per cent and for the Navy, it is 51 per cent.

Madam, under the head of modernisation, the Army’s fund has been decreased by 6.4 per cent and the Navy’s by 12.1 per cent; only the Air Force’s fund has been increased, by 12.1 per cent. The increase in the Air Force’s budget is in the view of its signing several mega-contracts like Rafale fighters and Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. Madam, only 12 per cent of the total modernisation budget of Rs 70,000 crore is available for the signing of new contracts. There is a whooping under-utilisation of funds of Rs 7,393 crore and the Army accounts for 50 per cent of the total unspent funds. Under-utilisation of funds has become a recurring feature of the Indian Defence budget because of the Finance Ministry’s machinations. Poor allocation, coupled with under-utilisation, is severely affecting modernisation and procurement.

Unlike in the previous Budget, this Union Budget has not provided any specific incentive to push the Make in India initiative in the defence sector. There is a reduction on income tax to 25 percent from 30 percent for the micro, small and medium enterprises with an annual turnover upto Rs 50 crores. This may benefit six thousand MSME’s which supply components to DRDO, defence public sector undertakings, ordnance factories and large private companies. Perhaps infrastructure status, which has been given for affordable housing should have been giving for availing tax benefit which is a long pending issue.

There is only a mere five percent increase into official defence budget and is grossly inadequate, taking the inflation and external and internal trade into consideration. Madam, we are a country that has one of the largest armed forces. They selflessly do the work that we cannot imagine to do for a day. It is unfortunate that they are not receiving the support they deserve. The fact that our country allocates crores every year on defence but hardly provides adequate funds to support these courageous souls is of great concern to us.

Winston Churchill had said: “ We sleep soundly in our bed because rough stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm”. So, even one soldier treated improperly is unacceptable to us. I appeal to consider increasing the defence budget allocation specially to support not only our serving soldiers but war veterans struggling to survive physical, psychological and financial trauma.
Thank you, Madam, for giving me the opportunity to speak.

SS Roy urges GOI to not to phase out Bengal Chemicals, the first Swadeshi company of India

Posted on March 17, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, the Government of India has decided to sell Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited. During the partition of Bengal, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray established Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited. It was the first Swadeshi company in India. It has been operating for more than a century. But unfortunately the Government has decided to sell the company.

Sir, I would like to place before you that this company’s factories are located in Mumbai, Kanpur, Panihati and Maniktala, and its sales offices in Patna, Cuttack, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi. This is the only company in Asia to manufacture anti-venom serum in the country. It has earned a profit of more than Rs 1 crore last year. In spite of this, the Government has decided on the strategic sale of this company

Apart from Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited, the Government has decided on the strategic sale of another public sector company, Bridge and Roof, which is a Mini-Ratna company. They have hundreds of orders with them – still the Government has decided for the strategic sale of this company. In this way, the public sector companies are being sold out and thousands of labourers are being rendered jobless, not only in Bengal but in different parts of the country.
Therefore, I would urge upon the Government through you, Sir, to review the decision for sale so that these companies are saved. Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals is the first Swadeshi company of the country, which was established during the Swadeshi Movement when the anti-Partition movement was going on, in 1905. Therefore, Sir, I would urge upon the Government that the Government should restrain themselves from selling out Bengal Chemicals and Bridge and Roof forthwith. Thank you, Sir.

Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien makes a Special Mention on the need to follow Bengal model to empower women across the country

Posted on March 16, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

On 8^th March we celebrated International Women’s Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the social, economic, political and cultural achievements of women. However, India still has a long way to go in ensuring that women are placed in an equal footing with men. From education to skill development, from increasing employment opportunities to ensuring safety of women, these are just some of the aspects that need to be looked into.

West Bengal has taken massive steps in working towards emancipating women. The Kanyashree scheme was introduced to arrest the drop-out rate in schools and prevent early marriage among girl students. More than 30 lakh girls have been enrolled under the scheme, which has garnered recognition worldwide, including from UNICEF. Bicycles are given to school children in rural areas through the Sabuj Sathi Scheme, and thousands of girls have benefitted so far.

More than 27,000 self-help groups have been formed over the last five years, which have over 16 lakh women members. Through the Swabalamban Scheme, training is given on a wide range of livelihood activities, e.g., zari craft, handloom weaving, beautician courses, etc

As per the latest NCRB report, Kolkata is the safest city in India in terms of crimes against women. The Kolkata Police offers martial arts training to schoolgirls, under Project Sukanya, to make them self-reliant when it comes to defending themselves.

Thus, the Central Government must take cognizance of the success story of West Bengal and use it as a model for the entire nation.

From farmer suicides to medical negligence, Trinamool MPs raise matters of public importance in Parliament

Posted on March 16, 2017 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Today, Trinamool Congress MPs raised a variety of issues of public importance in Parliament ranging from medical negligence in private hospitals to the issue of farmer suicides, from manual scavenging to the Union Budget.

In the Rajya Sabha, Md Nadimul Haque raised the issue of medical negligence in private hospitals. He pointed out to the fact that the West Bengal Government has passed an Act which seeks to bring more transparency in healthcare, and urged the Central Government and other States to pass a similar law.

In the same House, Vivek Gupta raised the issue of alleged reports of the shifting of the headquarters of Hindustan Paper Corporation from Kolkata to Guwahati. Later, Vivek Gupta raised another important issue – that of compensation for manual scavengers.

In the Lok Sabha, Ratna De Nag spoke on the Demands for Grants for the Agriculture Ministry, raising the issue of the increase in the number of suicides by farmers in the last three years, and urging the Ministry for adequate financial assistance for farmers under various heads.

Cooch Behar MP Partha Pratim Roy asked a Supplementary Question on the electrification of villages during Question Hour.

Sugata Bose, in his erudition, took the government to task for not allocating enough funds for defence modernisation. He also rued the lack of initiatives on part of the government for defence manufacturing. He called for a strategic vision rather than jingoism in defence sector.

Later in the Rajya Sabha, during a discussion of the Union Budget, Vivek Gupta spoke on some important issues related to the Finance Ministry, like bringing the illegal black money stashed abroad back to the country and depriving States of revenue collected from various cess and surcharge.

Vivek Gupta asks a Supplementary Question on manual scavenging

Posted on March 16, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, as per the Census, 1.68 lakh people are there yet the government has been able to identify only 12000 people and that too the budget for this Ministry has been slashed.

Sir, I want to know through you, from the honorable Minister, is the fund constrained. I also want to know about identifying the remaining people – almost 1.5 lakh people – who are still living a life without dignity. Thank you Sir.

Nadimul Haque speaks on medical negligence in private hospitals

Posted on March 16, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, in the absence of doctors and due to dissatisfaction with quality standards at State-run or public hospitals, an increasing proportion of people are using private healthcare facilities, though they are more expensive. In 2014, the average cost of hospital care by a public utility was Rs 6,120 while private institutions were four times more costly at Rs 25,850. Sir, in the last decade, while the cost of treatment has more or less doubled, insurance cover is still less than 15 per cent.

However, recent cases in multi-speciality hospitals across the country show an abysmal state of private healthcare. Private hospitals lack transparency, often resulting in an increase in medical negligence amounting to severe injuries and even deaths.

A case in point is that of Sanjay Roy, a Dankuni resident, at a world-famous private hospital in Kolkata. He sadly died due to alleged medical negligence. Sir, here I want all honourable Members to listen, and listen with feelings, because only then will you understand what pains his family had to go through. The point that I want to highlight is that hospitals authorities refused to release his body unless the hospital dues were cleared. His family had to keep their fixed deposit certificates as a security, only then his body was released.

Sir, the West Bengal Government has passed an Act which seeks to bring more transparency in healthcare, ending harassment of patients and checking medical negligence in private hospitals and nursing homes. Private hospitals will now have to pay compensation in cases of medical negligence with fines as high as Rs 10 lakh or more.

Sir, similarly, there ought to be a Central law regulating private hospitals in terms of over-pricing of medical treatment, cancellation of licenses and payment of compensations in cases of medical negligence. Other States may want to enact law following the example set by Bengal. Finally, what we all need to understand is that health service is not a commercial proposition; it is a service which needs to be delivered with humility and a human touch.

I end with a Urdu couplet, Sir.

Aise mahol mein tabah kya hain, dua kya hain

Jahan qatil hi khud poochen ki hawa kya hain

Partha Pratim Roy asks a Supplementary Question on electrification of villages

Posted on March 16, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Many of the villages all over India, including few villages of West Bengal, are unelectrified till now. Madam, in my parliamentary constituency Cooch Behar 54 Mouzas which are disconnected from the mainland – due to the rivers Kaljani and Dhoula – are unelectrified. Fifty five Bangladeshi enclaves which were recently exchanged between Government of India and Government of Bangladesh are also unelectrified. My earnest request to the Minister is to electrify these areas immediately. What is government’s initiative taken in this regard?

Tapas Mandal speaks on Demands for Grants for the Agriculture Ministry

Posted on March 15, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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Madam Speaker thank you for allowing me to raise the points on Demands for Grants 2017-18 for the Ministry of Agriculture.

Agriculture continues to be backbone of the economy. It employs 56% of the workforce.

The total share of agriculture and allied sectors in terms of GDP is 13.9%.

Over 58% of the rural households depend on the agriculture as their principal means of livelihood.

India’s GDP is expected to grow at 7.1% in the financial year of the 2016-17 while agriculture GDP is expected to grow at 4.1%.

India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spice products.

India’s fruit production has grown faster than vegetables making in the second largest fruit producer in the world.

The agro-industry in India is divided into several sub segments such as canned, dairy and frozen fruits to fisheries, meat, poultry and grains.

But there are some other points:

70% of the farmers never heard about the direct cash transfer.
Only 27% have heard about land acquisition law.
83% of the farmers are clueless about the foreign direct investment.
70% of the farmers never contacted any Kisan Call Centres.

Demonetisation affected the farmers adversely. What steps taken by the government given importance to the agriculture sector? What are the benefits and what is the road map of the agriculture sector? The economy contribution of agriculture to India’s GDP is steadily declining with the country’s broad based economic growth. Still agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the human and socio-economic fabric of India. Slow agricultural growth is a concern for policy makers as some two third of India’s population depend on rural employment for a living.

Current agricultural practices are neither economically nor environmentally sustainable and India’s yields for many agricultural commodities are low. Poorly maintained irrigation systems and almost universal lack of good extensional services are among the factors responsible. Farmers’ access to markets is hampered by poor roads, rudimentary marketing infrastructure and excessive regulation.

It will be essential for India to build up productive, competitive and diversified agricultural sector and facilitate rural non-farming entrepreneurship and employment. Encouraging policies that promote competitions in agricultural marketing will ensure farmers receive better prices. Although India has attained self sufficiency in food staples the productivity of its farm is below that of Brazil, United States, France and many other even developing countries.

Indian wheat farms, for example, produce about 1/3 of the width per hectare per year compared to farms in France. Rice productivity in India was less than that of China. Other staple crops’ productivity in India is similarly low. Indian Total Factor Productivity growth remains below 2% p.a.; in contrast, China’s Total Factor Productivity growth is above 6% p.a, even though China also has small holding farmers. Several studies suggest that India could eradicate its hunger and malnutrition to become a major source of food for the world by achieving productivity comparable to other countries.

Regarding farmers suicide, in 2012 the National Crimes Record Bureau of India reported 13,754 farmers committed suicide. Farmer suicides account for 11.2% of all suicides in India. Activists and scholars have offered a number of conflicting reasons for farmer suicides such as monsoon failure, high debt burdens, genetically modified crops, government policies, public mental health, personal issues and family problems. But we are going through a heavy agrarian crisis of Indian agriculture.

Indian agriculture is undergoing a structural change leading to a crisis situation. The rate of growth of agriculture output is gradually declining in the recent years. The contribution of agriculture to GDP comes down to less than half within the third years span. The deceleration of agriculture started from the early 1990s and it became sharp from the late 1990s.

The trend in the areas input use and capital stock and technology also reflect the agricultural downfall. All these trends show that the agricultural sector in India is facing a crisis today. It is alarming that the average monthly income of farmer houses is quite less considering minimum living standards. The suicide in farming and the agricultural sector in India is a matter of concern.

About 40 % of the farming community is on the verge of leaving agriculture as their profession due to huge loss in farming practices. The young generation is not interested in farming any more; it is said that the root cause of the crisis is that agriculture is no more a profitable economic activity when compared to the other enterprises. It means the economic activities derived from these activities not sufficient enough to meet the expenditures of the cultivators and therefore unless agriculture is made a profitable enterprise the present crisis cannot be solved.

The related factors responsible for the crisis include dependence on rainfall and climate, liberal import of agricultural products, reduction in agricultural subsidies, lack of ease credit to agricultural dependence on money lenders, decline of government investment in agricultural sectors and conversion of agricultural land into alternative uses.

The government invokes the name of Ambedkar all the time but does nothing for the people of Ambedkar; please allocate proportionate part to agriculture following SC/ST sub plan not through SC/ST welfare schemes.

The government talks of giving emphasis on looking towards Eastern India but what has the government given Eastern India, specially West Bengal, which is the gateway of Eastern India?

We have a legitimate demand for setting up of a Central Agricultural University in West Bengal. West Bengal is playing a leading role in the country in agriculture and horticulture sector. In spite of that, West Bengal is deprived from getting Central Agricultural University. Central Horticulture University is also a demand from the Government. In Horticulture, West Bengal Government is much ahead of other states. As compared to other major states, West Bengal has very few ICR Research Institutes. We need more institutes, sub-centres, like, CRIDA, IIHR, IIVR, RRI etc. in the state of West Bengal. I hope that the Minister will consider these aspects in his next Budget.

This government talks of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash, but is depriving West Bengal. We need more funds to be allocated for the development of agriculture in the state of West Bengal.

There is a saying in Bengali: “Ghoray Choriya Moddo Hantiya Cholilo” meaning a very dangerous man is riding on the horse gently. The actions of this government, which has a huge mandate, reminds us of that saying.

In the end, I would like to add that West Bengal is an example for the rest of the country to follow regarding implementing crop insurance scheme. Thank You.

Aparupa Poddar speaks in Lok Sabha on Demands for Grants for Ministry of Railways

Posted on March 15, 2017 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

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Thank you Hon’ble Speaker Sir for allowing me to speak on Railway Budget. I thank my party also. For the first time after independence, India has dispensed with the separate Railway Budget. It has not gone down well with the railway fraternity. Communities, organisations and the activists said that Budget announced nothing that could shake off the lack of mood among the lakhs of passengers who use Indian Railway services daily. Rail is the lifeline of the common citizen.

With a heavy heart, I am very pained to say that I often travel in trains and railway station and tracks are very dirty with sticky smells. The cleanliness of the trains is very bad. The toilets are very dirty. Even the blankets which are given in the first class AC compartments are in not proper conditions.

In the Railway Budget it has been mentioned that stations will be provided with lifts and escalators; it is good. The reality is different. In many stations they do not work. It is mentioned that in next three years stations will be modified and upgraded. Arambagh and Tarakeshwar railway stations need to be upgraded.

Our Hon’ble Chief Minister and former Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee thought to promote tourism and set up a corridor among the temples of Bishnupur, Tarakeswar, Kamarpukur – which is the birthplace of Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Dev – and Arambagh to Bowaichandi (31 km as mentioned in her Railway Budget in 2010-2011) to change the social-economic scenario for the people of Arambagh. I urge the government to expedite the project and allot sufficient funds.

Sir, I request the Hon’ble Rail Minister to start the work of ROB of Kamarkundu and expedite the project and the demand of the subway of Chandanpur railway station which is the need of the hour for the farmers and people residing there.

Thank you.