New Delhi : While Karnataka CM was the first among states to present his annual Budget containing a special part on Agriculture on Thursday Feb.24, the Union Railway Minister presented her annual Budget for 2011-12 (April to March) today (Friday) in a crowded Lok Sabha and galleries above watching her for her boons to states from a Cash-rich Railways organisation, easily the largest in the world.
Mamata Didi, as she is known affectionately all over India, has pledged to build a strong rail road connection around the country that facilitates movements of freight goods and passenger traffic, which helps common people in tourism and helps also in migration of labour from state to state in search of employment and on home leave.
The high-ranking minister stated her determination to build on efficient railways system in all its capabilities and her desire, out of a sense of social responsibility, of catering to crores of common citizens in India. The economic focus is still there, but the human face to Railway activities is also getting an equal emphasis, she said in her Budget speech, this morning.
Curiously the Railway Budget is presented, when she wants to win the next state elections in Bengal, ending a long CPI(M) rule of 3 decades. Her empire has a network of 64,100km routes to ferry daily, with 19 million passengers on 7000 trains connecting over 6,900 stations from one end to the other. There are 4,000 goods trains carrying 85 crore tonnes of cargo everyday.
The Budget has accorded importance to the business oriented policies to aid industries in all areas. 85 private public partnership proposals are examined, on receipt by the Railway Board. Railway based works would be set up in future. The Rae Bareili factory will factory will deliver its first finished coach, by June next. Orissa has a wagon-manufacturing factory if land is available. Even Jammu-Kashmir will get a factory. Singur in Bengal will have a Metro coach factory, in place of Nano cars, to provide employment to workers. Darjeeling will have a software centre of excellence. Manipur will be inclusive of Railway connections soon.
More details are coming in from Lok Sabha in a short time.