Mamata rains sops on West Bengal in her Railway budget

October 8th, 2009 KOLKATA - Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Thursday described West Bengal as an "university of Maoist activities" where the ultras get training and launch armed strikes in other parts of the country. "West Bengal is a university of Maoist activities.

October 5th, 2009 SILIGURI - The northern West Bengal town of Siliguri will have a new railway recruitment centre, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here Monday. Flagging off the weekly New Jalpaiguri-Digha Paharia Express connecting North Bengal with the coastal tourist town of Digha in East Midnapore district, Banerjee said the recruitment centre would start functioning within two months.

October 4th, 2009 SILIGURI - Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday announced a new train service between this northern West Bengal town and the coastal tourist destination of Digha in East Midnapore from Monday. "We'll flag off a new train from Siliguri to Digha tomorrow (Monday), which will connect two tourist spots of the state.

September 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - Railway recruitment examinations will now be conducted in all major Indian languages, including Urdu, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said here Sunday. Speaking to newspersons at an iftar party hosted by union Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed, Banerjee said: "Those appearing at Railway Recruitment Board examinations can opt for any regional language, including Urdu." RRB examinations have so far been conducted only in English and Hindi.

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 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday asked Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee "not to make Indian Railways an East India Company and alleged that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has favoured West Bengal at the cost of many other states in the rail budget. "India is not (West) Bengal.

July 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - After being showered with goodies in the railway budget, West Bengal Monday got its share of booty from the union budget in terms of grants for the post-Cyclone Aila reconstruction efforts, setting up of an Aligarh Muslim University Campus and announcement of a handloom cluster. Expectations had been high in the run-up to the two budgets, as this was the first time in the last 25 years that both the finance and railways minister were from West Bengal.

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 KOLKATA - "Its a budget for maa, mati, manush (mother, motherland and people)," is how a jubliant Trinamool Congress worker described party chief and Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee's rail budget presented Friday. Trinamool workers in West Bengal cheered the budget and said it will lead the party to victory in the next assembly polls.

July 3rd, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief and Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday lost no opportunity to needle West Bengal's ruling Left Front when she proposed a new rail line from Singur to Nandigram and sops for Lalgarh - areas in the state that have witnessed violent anti-Left agitations. Exhibiting shrewd political sense in her wide array of proposals for West Bengal in the 2009-10 rail budget, arguably the highest sops the state has got since independence, Banerjee Friday let go no opportunity to woo her votebank with an eye to the 2011 state polls.

July 3rd, 2009 KOLKATA - Terming it a "mixed' railway budget, West Bengal's ruling Left Front chairman Biman Bose criticised the privatisation schemes introduced in the new budgetary plans by Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday. "It's a mixed budget and the thrust is on more and more privatisation.

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 7th, 2009 KOLKATA - Railway passengers should be more vigilant about their own security while commuting, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee said Sunday night. "People, mainly the railway commuters, should be more vigilant about the security matter.

May 26th, 2009 KOLKATA/NEW DELHI - Concerned over the plight of people in cyclone-hit West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee broke tradition Tuesday to formally take charge of her railways portfolio at the Eastern Railway headquarters instead of New Delhi. "I have to be with the people in my state at this hour.

April 12th, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will share the campaign platform with Congress president Sonia Gandhi April 27 at a rally in West Bengal's Jangipur, from where External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha. This was decided at a late Saturday meeting between Mukherjee and Mamata at the former's south Kolkata residence.