At last, a budget for the people, of the people...

At last, a budget for the people, of the people...
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 26: ``A budget of the people, for the people and by the people,'' is how Mamata Banerjee described the railway budget for the year 2001-2002. And if she is to be believed, the sum of Rs 190 crore--set aside for passenger amenities--is to be spent on making reservations and journeys more comfortable.

Keeping pace with information technology revolution, the railway minister announced a proposal for using Internet kiosks for ticket retailing. This would reduce congestion at ticket counters, she said. She also talked about a scheme to provide quicker information to public through online position of running trains through Cable TV, Internet and cellular phones by connecting National Train Enquiry System to these systems.

Among the modernisation and amenities programmes, there was also a proposal to issue tickets through Automatic Teller Machines (ATMS) at major railway stations. The minister said ticket refunds would also be fully computerised on all zonal railways. ``Top priority would be accorded for providing drinking water, platform shelters, increasing the length of the platform to accommodate longest trains, raising the platform heights, and ensuring adequate seating arrangements,'' Mamata said.

She also talked about various training programmes that had been initiated in the railways' Customer Care Institute to train the front-line staff for better customer service. Computerised information on reservation availability status and train movement status, would be available at all `A' class stations, she said, announcing improved amenities for passengers.

To improve sanitation at stations, a large number of ``pay and use'' toilets would be provided along with facilities for mechanised cleaning, she said. Apart from 210 stations that had already been selected to be transformed into ``model stations'', 74 other stations would also be upgraded, she added.

Similarly, 71 additional Passenger Reservation System locations would be set up over and above 670 such locations. The railway minister said amenities on the lines given to Rajdhani Express trains were to be introduced on 30 other trains.

She announced continuation of concessional Monthly Season Tickets for people below poverty line and extension of concessions to orthopaedically handicapped and paraplegic persons to visually and mentally handicapped.

The 24 new trains announced by Mamata Banerjee are --

(1) New Delhi-Raipur-Bilaspur weekly Rajdhani Express

(2) New Delhi-Ranchi-Hatia weekly Rajdhani Express

(3) Bi-weekly Express between Gorakhpur and New Delhi

(4) Bangalore-Vasco bi-weekly Express

(5) Pune-Ernakulam weekly Express via Londa and Madgaon

(6) Asansol-New Jalpaiguri weekly Express

(7) Secunderabad-Dharmavaram Express

(8) Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri bi-weekly Express, (9) Jaipur-Ernakulam weekly superfast Express

(10) Dhanbad-Hatia Intercity Express

(11) Howrah-Yashwantpur (Bangalore) bi-weekly Express

(12) Indore-Gandhinagar (Ahmedabad) bi-weekly Express

(13) Howrah-Trivandrum-Nagercoil weekly Express

(14) Kurla-Bhubaneshwar (via Sambhalpur) weekly Express

(15) Valsad-Patna weekly Express serving Surat area

(16) Haldia-Asansol Express

(17) Jodhpur-Chennai weekly Express

(18) Solapur-Pune Intercity Express

(19) Jodhpur-Hardwar link Express

(20) Palghat-Trivandrum Express

(21) Bhubaneshwar-Palasa Intercity service

(22) Asansol-Jhajha-Amritsar weekly Express

(23) Weekly Rajdhani Express to Secunderabad

(24) Rampurhat-Howrah Intercity Express.

Apart from this, Mamata has also announced introduction of `Matribhumi' Express trains to be run during peak rush season with only second class sleeper coaches. These would be run on the following routes --

(1) Delhi-Jammu

(2) Howrah-Delhi

(3) Howrah-Dehradun

(4) Delhi-Barauni via Lucknow

(5) Hyderabad-Bangalore

(6) Mumbai-Gorakhpur

(7) Mumbai-Varanasi