A day after the Railways took over sick state PSUs Breathwaite and Burn Standard, members of trade union CITU, which is allied to the Left, were today seen carrying king-size cutouts of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and shouting slogans in her favour.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at the Centre announced yesterday that both the companies were brought under the purview of Railways from the Heavy Industries ministry, a decision CITU workers believe Banerjee forced the Centre to take.

Today, hundreds of workers of the Breathwaite’s Hyde Road factory gathered along with their family members at the main gate with cutouts of Banerjee shouting slogans and distributing sweets. Similar scenes were seen at other units of Breathwaite in Hooghly and at Burnpur Burn Standard factory.

Burn Standard employed 1,418 workers while 459 staff were working with the Breathwaite.

“Mamata has fulfilled our dream,” said Sajal Sarkar, CITU secretary of the workers’ union at Breatwaite in Garden Reach. “What Lalu Prasad could not do, Mamata has done. I should congratulate her,” he said, sitting inside the Hyde Road factory. “She has sent a message to the working class that she can address their problems. This was a demand of the Left for years,” said Ranajit Majumdar, state secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the labour arm of the CPI.

“I want my salary. I want to sustain my family. I feel happy because my future is guaranteed,” said Noumi Ahir, a peon at Breathwaite.

“We appreciate Mamata’s role behind the revival of our factory,’ said Tilak Yadav, a welder at the Hyde Road factory.

Since 1990, the Left parties had been demanding amalgamation of these two “sick” PSUs with the Railways. When Lalu Prasad was the Railways minister, Bihar-based Bharat Wagon was brought under the railway ministry, but the demand of the Left was not heeded, said Sarkar.

In her Railways budget, Banerjee had proposed the takeover of these two companies. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) examined the proposals and pushed it to the Cabinet. The CCEA yesterday approved the proposal that would now be examined by the Board for Industrial Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

“We have also given such proposals in 1994, but the government did not listen. I am sure Mamata has been able to force the government to act what our leaders could not,” said Md Illiiyas, an assistant secretary of CITU.

CPM sources were quick to read a political motive behind the move. “After capturing the rural vote bank, Mamata is looking for support from the working class,” said a senior CPM leader.