It pays to have a railway minister from your state. If her predecessors provided sweeter deals from the railways for their home states, current railway minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has been busy doing the same for West Bengal. The bonanza for Bengal which began in 2009 shortly after Ms Banerjee took over the important railway portfolio picked up steam in the year just gone by, 2010.
With Ms Banerjee’s sights firmly fixed on the forthcoming Assembly polls in Bengal, which is slated to be held just a few months from now, she ensured that railway goodies rained on her state in 2010. So much so that the rail mantri’s calendar was choc-a-bloc with functions involving the launch of new trains, the laying of foundation stones for new rail lines, and the launch of many other railway projects worth several crores.
However, as old-timers in the railways pointed out, the gravy train that West Bengal has been riding is not unusual, given that states from where previous railway ministers have failed too have benefited greatly owing to this link. Ms Banerjee’s two immediate predecessors, Mr Lalu Prasad and Mr Nitish Kumar, both from Bihar, too launched several railway projects in the state during their respective tenures.
As for the Trinamul leader, among the important railway projects in Bengal that got her blessings in the year gone by was proposed rail coach factory in Kancharapara, a wagon factory in Kulti near Asansol in Bardhman district and even a 1,320 MW power plant in Adra which is to be built as a joint venture between the railways and NTPC at a cost of `8,000 crores to meet the former’s own electricity requirements.
Apart from this, she also laid the foundation stone for a coach mid-life rehabilitation workshop in Anara in the state’s Purulia district and a nursing college in Garden Reach costing around `26 crores. Last year also saw the railways beginning work on the construction of a 17-km long railway line costing around `121 crores in Nandigram. Nandigram also got a new computerised reservation centre.
The Trinamul leader also inaugurated commencement of work on the building of a multi-functional complex in Digha besides flagging-off later in 2010 the Howrah-Digha Duronto Express.