Mamtha's Railway Budget: Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa jointly applaud

To everyone's surprise, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and his arch rival and the opposition AIADMK Supremo Jayalalithaa has forgotten the border between their parties and jointly praised the Railway Budget presented in Parliament by Railway Minister and the iron lady of Bengal Mamtha Banerjee.

Karunanidhi congratulated the Union Railway Minister for announcing the Dindigul-Palani broad gauge work getting completed by 2010-2011.He also congratulated for the Railways taking up the Needamangalam-Mannarkudi Project. He said it gave him immense pleasure that Ms Mamta had announced that the extension of MRTS from Velacherry to St Thomas Mount will be completed by March 2012.

Karunanidhi said he is also happy that the Minister had announced that the Railway station in his native Tiruvarur would be upgraded and Salem, Tiruchirapalli and Tirutani Stations will be developed.

Karunanidhi further praised the introduction of new trains in various places in the State, the decision to set up a Sports Academy and modernize the Perambur Integral Coach Factory.

''I thank and congratulate Ms Mamta Banerjee on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu for announcing new railway lines between Madurai-Kottayam, Madurai-Tuticorin, Dindigul-Kumili and Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi,'' Karunanidhi added.

He commended the announcements such as the feasibility study would be taken up for Krishnagiri-Samrajnagar Railway Line, Nagapattinam-Velankanni Line will be completed by 2009-2010, Salem-Namakkal by 2010-2011, the broadgauge of Cuddalore-Seerkazhi, Vellore-Villupuram, Pothanur-Kovai will be completed by 2009-2010.

Meanwhile, in a surprise move, Karunanidhi's arch rival and Opposition AIADMK Party Supremo Ms J Jayalalithaa also complimented Mamtha for striking a delicate balance between long-term vision and short-term requirements without hiking passenger and freight rates in these hard times.

Reacting to the Budget proposals, Ms Jayalalithaa, who celebrated her 62nd birthday, said the Railway Minister's assurance that there would be no privatization of the Railways is reassuring, while her call for private participation in funding Railway projects is realistic.

''Ms Banerjee had done her best to bring the Railways down to the common man in the villages", Jayalalithaa exclaimed.

Jayalalithaa further said that the slew of new trains, larger outlay for improved passenger amenities and the initiative to set up water bottling plants to ensure availability of cheap drinking water during journeys are bound to be appreciated by the masses.

'From Tamil Nadu’s point of view, the Railway Budget is a mixed bag. ''The plan to modernize the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) and to launch a second Unit is really welcome. We are happy that Ms Banerjee has taken note of the AIADMK’s request with regard to doubling of tracks, better outlay for the MRTS in Chennai, electrification and gauge conversion and included them in her Budget presentation, Jayalalithaa said.

Sanction for a Coastal Railway Line between Chennai and Puducherry via Mamallapuram would have been greatly appreciated by the people of TamilNadu, Jayalalithaa said.

The announcement that aspirants taking the Railway Service Commission Examinations can do so in regional languages as well would be a great boost to the depressed classes. However, by limiting the regional languages to Hindi and Urdu Ms Banerjee has done a disservice to other languages, particularly Tamil, she said.

''In a nutshell, Ms Mamata Banerjee’s Railway Budget 2010 is like the proverbial Curate’s egg. Good in parts. Bad in parts,'' Ms Jayalalithaa said.

Introducing of new train services, and speeding up of gauge conversion for Tamil Nadu

Introduction of new train services, setting up of a sports academy, speeding up of gauge conversion projects and expansion of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) located here are the major announcements relating to Tamil Nadu in the 2010-11 railway budget presented by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday.

The Minister also announced taking up of preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey this year for dedicated freight corridor connecting Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu (North-South freight corridor) and South-South (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa).

In addition, Ms. Banerjee has included Tamil Nadu for building some socially desirable projects which needs the Planning Commission’s sanction.

Regarding the new trains, Ms. Banerjee has sanctioned one Duronto, five long distance and three passenger trains. In addition, eight Bharat Teerth trains will connect important tourist places in Tamil Nadu.

According to Ms. Banerjee, the upsurge in the economy has resulted in 'an unprecedented growth of passenger traffic during the last five years resulting in increased requirement of passenger coaches'.

“While other goods and commodities are readily available in the market, coaches and wagons are not available off the shelf. Our manufacturing capacity is less and we have to plan years in advance,” she said.

While steps are being taken to set up new coach factories at Rae Bareilly, Kanchrapara and Palakkad, Banerjee said the existing plant of ICF near here will be modernised while a new one will be set up.

Currently ICF has a capacity to roll out 1,500 coaches per year.

Suburban railway services in Chennai got a boost in the budget with the announcement of new services between Chennai Central-Sullurpeta-Chennai Beach, Chennai Beach-Velachery-Chennai Beach (on the MRTS), Chennai Beach-Tiruttani-Chennai Central, Chennai Central-Arakkonam-Chennai Central.

Work on the extension of MRTS Phase II from Velachary to St. Thomas Mount is in progress and targeted for completion by March 2012.

Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMU) service will be introduced Tirupati-Nellore-Chennai, Salem-Katpadi and Coimbatore-Erode.

Ms. Banerjee also announced construction of multifunctional complexes at Erode, Nagercoil, Salem, Trichy and Tiruttani.

On healthcare, outpatient treatment centres will be set up at Katpadi, Karur, Kumbakonam, Rameswaram, Trichy, Tirunelvelli, Villupuram and Virudhunagar and a secondary level general speciality hospital will be built in Trichy, the Minister said.

While survey for a new Krishnagiri-Chamrajnagar line will be taken up this year, Ms. Banerjee said the new Nagapattinam-Vellankani and Salem-Namakkal lines will be completed soon.

- Asian Tribune -