Month: September 2010

At a public function organized by Northeast Frontier Railway at Darjeeling station and cheered on by a capacity crowd, Trinamool chief Ms. Mamata offered to bring the Prime Minister to Darjeeling with a development package. She also outlined her plans for the Hills if she became chief minister. “If I become the chief minister, there will be a seat of the state secretariat in Darjeeling,” she promised, and went on to add: “After I go back, I will give my recommendations to the Prime Minister. I’ll tell him, please come here with a special package. There is need for it in Darjeeling.” She promised to recommend to the Union finance minister a tax holiday for setting up industries in Darjeeling, like in other hill areas. She also promised to set up a campus of the Railway Recruitment Board in Darjeeling and an examination centre with facility for writing the papers in Nepali, expressing hope that this would open up job prospects for the youth. Her next announcement was to set up a diesel engine filter plant unit and a composite unit for the manufacture of brake block of coaches at Tindharia loco shed. An old unit there would be modernized and two new units would be set up, she said. At Kurseong, the railway printing press will be modernized and a nursing unit and a skill training facility set up. The Tindharia railway hospital would be upgraded at a cost of 10 crore, she said. Mamata also hunoured the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) by accepting some of the demands made by its leaders when they met her on Sunday. She said a broad-gauge line would be set up from Siliguri to Sukna along the Rangpo line in Sikkim. Four stations catering to the needs of Darjeeling and Kalimpong will also be built. Mamata also promised to take up with the Centre the setting up of a medical college and a central university in the Hills, points that the GJM had raised in the tripartite talks.

Image Courtesy: The Times of India

The public meeting was cancelled, party flags and banners were withdrawn, but Trinamool chief Ms. Mamata Banerjee’s mission to the Hills was a hit. Everywhere she went, crowds poured out on to the street to receive her. She interacted with common people and met representatives of local parties, including GJM, sending out signals that she now has her eyes fixed on the Hills. The warm reception she got on her way to the Hills said it all. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and rival Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League welcomed her with open arms. Right from Darjeeling More on the outskirts of Siliguri, common people thronged the road to welcome the leader. Even in towns en route, like Kurseong and Ghoom, she received a hearty welcome. Then there were receptions at various stations of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. At Darjeeling station, the GJM town committee welcomed her with a khada and shouted slogans. At Circuit House, she was presented a guard of honour by Darjeeling Police. Near Darjeeling station, the Trinamool supremo got off her car and walked with the crowd — her usual way of forging bonds. She looked overwhelmed. “At least, Mamata has taken the trouble to come to Darjeeling. Others don’t bother to come,” a senior GJM leader said at Darjeeling Gymkhana Club in the morning. Besides parties like GJM (which wants Ms. Banerjee to understand its viewpoint) and ABGL (which wants her to help restore peace), representatives of civil society sought help on issues like tourism. Fed up of violence and bandhs, common people want to know if she can do something to bring back normalcy.

Image Courtesy: The Times of India

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, during her public rally in Singur on Saturday, reiterated her demand for withdrawal of central forces from Lalgarh. She believes that the state police will back out the moment central forces personnel are withdrawn and people will show the CPM its place. “I give a call for immediate withdrawal of central forces from Lalgarh. The CPM can’t be allowed to use weapons from the state and central armouries to gain political ground there. I have taken up the matter with the Prime Minister and union home minister. Let the CPM gain political ground through democratic means. The moment the central forces are withdrawn, the state police will run like rats into their holes. The CPM will then learn where it stands,” she said. Describing the atrocities carried out by the CPM cadres – some of them in police uniform – she said, “I just received news that the mother of Lakshman, one of our supporters from Salboni, has been shot dead by the harmads. The CPM may spill as much blood as it chooses to but they can’t kill all of us. They are planning to celebrate victory day at Lalgarh on October 2. I shall go there again on October 5.” Claiming yet again that she is against bloodshed, Mamata came down heavily on a top brass CPM leader who was in the all-party team that paid a visit to Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ahmed Shah Gilani recently. “When I speak of dialogue with the Maoists, you brand me a Maoist sympathizer. Now that you have gone and met somebody who receives support from a foreign nation, should we say the same about you? I have always believed that dialogue can solve all issues. Even Pranab Mukherjee has stood by my statement and said there is scope for dialogue in a democracy. When the government can consider holding talks with Kashmiri separatists, why can’t the same rule apply for the Maoists,” she said. She further went on to say, “But then, how can the CPM believe in talks and discussions? To tarnish my image, they sabotage trains, without getting bothered about the large number of people who lose their lives. They get angry when I talk about going to Darjeeling. They try to take the credit after the railway ministry does everything for tourists stranded in Uttarakhand. They go to Matua religious leader Binapani Devi and ask her for support. How can she do so? She is part of the movement seeking a change in the state after all.”
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Railway minister Mamata Banerjee has said her department will set up not one but two new factories in the erstwhile site of the Tata Nano factory in Singur, provided the state government hands over the land to the railways. “The railways does not own land in Singur. If you give us the land, we will put up two railway units on 600 acres there and return 400 acres to unwilling farmers,” Ms Banerjee said. She was speaking at a function to flag off local train services between Singur-Howrah and Tarakeswar-Howrah. “Since railways does not have land in Singur, we are setting up three factories in Dankuni which is barely 20 km away,” the minister added. She was referring to the railways’ move to invest over `110 crore to set up a diesel loco component unit, an electric loco component facility and a track maintenance facility at Dankuni. The railways’ has also decided to establish a training institute in Dankuni. Additionally, it is set to emerge as a key point in the railways’ ambitious 2,762-km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor project between connecting Ludhiana to Dankuni, she said. Ms Banerjee was clearly in her elements on Saturday, lambasting the ruling CPM government in West Bengal, as she addressed a large gathering in Singur, the ‘ground zero’ of her agitation against forcible acquisition of farmland. “The Centre is now considering an amendment to the existing Land Acquisition Act. The Singur agitation acted as a catalyst for this new thinking at the Centre. Following the Nandigram incident, our demand for putting a stop to SEZs has also been acted upon,” she reminded her audience.

Courtesy: The Economic Times
Image Courtesy: www.thehindu.com

Next month, Trinamool chief Ms. Mamata Banerjee will be heading to London for three days to get a feel of what the British capital is like. And how close Kolkata – known as the City of Palaces during the Raj – can come to it. In her itinerary is a trip down the Thames to see how a beautified river can attract tourists. The railway minister plans to implement the same on the river Hooghly. She is also scheduled to address a lecture at Cambridge University. The invite from the British transport minister reached Ms. Banerjee a few days ago. The Trinamool chief has accepted the proposal and has instructed her aides to make preparations for the visit. “The British government wants us to see how London was created around the river Thames,” Ms. Banerjee said. She will be leaving for London in the last week of October. She will be meeting the British transport minister on October 25. During her years as a central minister Ms. Banerjee has always stayed away from foreign trips. But with the chances of Trinamool’s forming the government brighter, the Trinamool chief has realised the need for foreign trips and collaborations.
Courtesy: The Times of India
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With the verdict of the Babri Masjid case just a day away, Trinamool Congress chief Ms. Mamata Banerjee has appealed for peace and harmony. In context of the judgment, an important core committee meeting was held on Wednesday, here at the Trinamool Bhavan. “The whole nation is anxious over the verdict of this one issue. We, on behalf of our party are appealing to the people of the nation, that we have faith and confidence in the Court’s judgment. The verdict may go in someone’s favour while it may go against someone else. The aggrieved party may challenge the verdict in a court of law and take recourse to the law of the land. But under no circumstance should there be any misunderstanding between the people of our country. Communal peace, harmony and unity must remain intact,” she said. Speaking on her decision of canceling her trip to Delhi on the eve of the judgment, Ms. Banerjee said, “In order that some opportunists of malevolent intentions may not take advantage of the situation, I have requested all leaders and workers to be vigilant and remain alert. I myself am staying back in Kolkata. I wish everyone health, happiness and safety.”
Image Courtesy: www.article.wn.com