Left Front criticises privatisation thrust in railway budget

July 20th, 2009 KOLKATA - Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee kept up her promise of a 'ladies special' for harried commuters in Kolkata on Sunday. Banerjee flagged off the ladies special EMU, which will run between Howrah and Bandel stations in Kolkata.

July 7th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Rail services were affected at various places in Orissa Tuesday following demonstrations at railway stations by the youth wing of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to protest the alleged neglect of the state by the central government in the railway budget. Although the demonstrations were peaceful, railway officials said the movement of trains was affected as protesters sat on the tracks in some places for nearly two hours.

July 4th, 2009 MUMBAI/KOLKATA - Commuters in Mumbai, by and large, have welcomed this year's Railway Budget, which Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee tabled in Parliament on Friday. Most of Mamata's 13.6 million local train commuters described the budget provisions from travel as satisfactory.

July 4th, 2009 AGARTALA - The Left Front government in Tripura Saturday voiced its unhappiness over the railway budget, saying Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee had ignored the northeast by announcing no new schemes or projects for the region. "No new scheme or project was announced in the railway budget.

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday taunted the Left for calling her rail budget a "manifesto" for the West Bengal assembly polls of 2011, retorting "why not in 2009"? "You asked me a political question and I gave you a political answer," she told reporters after presenting the rail budget. Asked about Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Basudeb Acharya's comment that the rail budget she presented in parliament was a "manifesto for the 2011 elections in West Bengal", Banerjee said she was ready to face elections this very year.

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Aware of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's temper, Congress president Sonia Gandhi Friday gestured her party MPs not to upset her when she presented the railway budget in the Lok Sabha. Banerjee clashed with Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MPs as she began her budget speech.

July 3rd, 2009 HYDERABAD - Andhra Pradesh Friday conveyed its unhappiness to Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee over the raw deal the state has received in the 2009-10 railway budget. The Congress government in the state feels that injustice has been done to the state as the budget proposed no new projects for the state except a superfast train between Visakhaptnam and Mumbai and development of Secunderabad and Tirupati railway stations.

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Left parties were divided in their reaction to the railway budget unveiled by their bete noire Mamata Banerjee here Friday, with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) welcoming parts of it and the Communist Party of India (CPI) slamming it. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the budget impractical.

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in parliament house Friday morning to present her ministry's budget for this fiscal, promising to address the demands of the average passenger. "My budget will be of the people, by the people and for the people," Banerjee told reporters before leaving for parliament house to present the railway budget in Lok Sabha, the lower house.

June 25th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's Left Front government Thursday criticised the educational reforms outlined by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, dubbing them as efforts aimed at "absolute centralisation" and "privatisation" of the education system. State Secondary Education Minister Partha Dey said having a single board exam in standard 12 across the country will make "the entire thing absolutely centralised".

June 24th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has written to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, listing the state's demands, including that of four new trains and five new railway lines, to be incorporated in this year's rail budget, an official said Wednesday. "Since the railway budget is schedule to be presented July 3, Raman Singh has sent a letter to the railway minister listing out Chhattisgarh's demands," the official told IANS.

April 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - The Third Front should try formulating alternative economic policies to deal with the economic slowdown if it came to power at the centre, West Bengal's ruling Left Front chairman Biman Bose said here Thursday. 'The economic condition of the country is affected due to the slowdown.

February 12th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Orissa has been neglected in interim railway budget presented by Railways Minister Lalu Prasad in Parliament Friday, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said here. 'I am disappointed as Orissa has been neglected,' Patnaik told reporters here, adding that only one new express train was proposed to be introduced in the state in 2009-2010.

February 12th, 2009 BHOPAL - The interim railway budget presented Friday is disappointing for Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. 'The proposals like plying a daily Habibganj-Kurla train, running daily train between Bhopal and Lucknow, making the Puri-Jaipur Express bi-weekly, extending the Shatabdi to Indore, starting a third Bina-Itarsi line and adding a coach from Bhopal to the Jabalpur Mumbai-Garib Rath have not been implemented,' he said in a statement.

February 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Following are the highlights of the interim rail budget for next fiscal presented by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in Lok Sabha Friday: * Railways will create record surplus of Rs.900 billion (Rs.90,000 crore) this fiscal * In past five years, no burden imposed on train passengers * Railways managed 8 percent growth in freight loading * Drop in train accidents, railway safety enhanced