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Replying to a marathon discussion on the Budget, she said two more non-stop 'Duranto' (fast) trains --Delhi-Secunderabad and Delhi-Nagpur-- would be introduced in addition to 12 such trains already announced.
Two of the 14 such trains would start within a month, she said but did not identify them.
Catering to regional sentiments which have often erupted in the form of violence in recent times, she favoured 50 per cent quota for locals in induction in Railways through the Railway Recruitment Board and question paper in regional language as she promised to review the process of intake.
She also included several more stations in the list of those to be developed as 'adarsh' (model) and world class ones, responding to demands by members from all parties, who accused her of only focussing on West Bengal while neglecting rest of the country.
The Budget was passed by voice vote after suspension of a rule which provides for referring of Demand for Grants and Appropriation Bills to the Standing Committees.
Banerjee announced setting up an expert panel, headed by FICCI Secretary General Amit Mitra to prepare a business plan for toning up the Railways. It will have representatives of Chambers of Commerce besides Member (Traffic) and Member (Engineering) of the Railway Board.
She said monitoring committees, headed by senior officials like members of Railway Board, would also be set up to keep tabs on train punctuality, amenities and cleanliness.
Emphasising that realisation of these objectives was not an impossible task, she said efforts would be made to attain punctuality of trains up to 90 per cent.
Declaring that all the commitments made in Budget would be implemented within this year, Banerjee said the White Paper promised by her would be unveiled as soon as possible.
She clarified that the exercise was not to target "any individual" but only to reflect upon the past and present state of affairs of the Railways and chalking out the roadmap for future.
Her promise to bring out the White Paper had upset her predecessor Lalu Prasad and given a handle to the opposition to attack the RJD chief.
Banerjee said her step was nothing unusual as such an exercise was carried out earlier by her predecessors George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar.
She, however, did not give any time-frame despite BJP leader Ananth Kumar insisting that it be unveiled on the first day of the Winter Session. She said the timing would depend on internal and external audits.
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FIRST THING TO DO IS TO GET ALL THE PEOPLE IN BIHAR TO BUY RAILWAY TICKETS. ALSO, PROSECUTE ANYONE WHO USES HIS/HER STATUS AS SOMEBODY TO GET THE RAILWAY TO ACCOMODATE HIM/HER, JUST AS LALU'S BROTHER-IN-LAW MADE THE STATION MASTER TO CHANGE THE PLATFORM OF RAJDHANI SO THAT HE DID NOT HAVE TO CLIMB THE BRIDGE. ALSO, ANY IN-LAWS OF ANYONE CAUGHT WITHOUT TICKET SHOULD BE PROSECUTED AND JAILED.
It was fascinating to see vast beautiful land by train.while you are debating about politics of railway ministry,i can assert one thing that indian railway is key to national integration carrying millions everyday.i happen to come to india to pick up golden brass statue of durga with cracked head and meet noble people of india.my parents are going to retire in india and plan to travel by train to see temples.i recommend all nris who has not seen india to travel by train.soul of india is everywhere on station and in train.run train as private company for good customer service and orient people,students,employes about civic duties and study successful railways in world and implement what is financially possible.one must remember that such a vast system cannot be modernised overnight.i must admit that i spent lot of money on bribery to make my stay comfortable and take statue to london.i am very happy that i met wonderful people and saw beatiful land and met noblest relatives.
What ever was shown by the ex rly minister in development of Rly was falls but every one was with deaf ear. Even our honourable Priminister had also ignored it.Every financial transactions should be got investigated by the CBI to book the persons responsible to cheat the poor Indian public
If the white paper is released By Ms Mamta Banerjee as promised LALOO PRASAD YADAV WILL HAVE TO GO TO JAIL FOR MISLEADING THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE WHEN HE WAS RAILWAY MINISTER.
i appeal to all other respected party mp and mla to kindly allow her to do something for west bengal so that some jobs are created and filled up by local candidates. let her do something what cpim had not done for west bengal during the their misrule for the last 32 years. its my appeal to my fellow countrymen.