West Bengal has been allocated Rs 13,955 crore for railways infrastructure in the Union Budget this year, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said yesterday. This is thrice the amount allocated to Bengal when Mamata Banerjee was the Railway Minister, he said in a quip at the Chief Minister whose party had claimed the Budget had nothing for the state.
Mr Vaishnaw's remark led to a sharp response from the Trinamool Congress with party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh saying this was "totally misleading".
"When Mamata Banerjee was the Railways Minister, Bengal was given a lot of projects and funds too. A lot of new trains (were given) and renovation of stations, new lines, new projects, and new factories were undertaken," said Mr Ghosh.
Ms Banerjee was the Railway Minister during 1999-2000 in the NDA regime and during 2009-11 in the UPA government.
But in the NDA-era, Mr Ghosh continued, the Modi Government is not even allowing paperwork related to the projects.
"Less funds are coming in for many projects and in some cases, funds are not at all enough. So, paperwork is saying something and is being used by the BJP. Effective work is not being done in the Railways in West Bengal," he added.
Mr Vaishnaw appealed to the Chief Minister to help in land acquisition and in law and order, and said, "Land acquisition is very important for the railways' development."
He also shared an update on the expansion of Kolkata Metro.
"In the last 42 years, 28 km of metro lines were built. In the last 10 years, we've started (work on) 32 km of metro lines. It's more than the last 40 years. The allocation has been three times since the time of Mamata Banerjee," he said.
However, many projects practically saw no land acquisition, said the Railway Minister, adding, "I request there should be no politics in this. We should work together. If Modi Ji increases allocation, then the state government must come forward."
Mr Vaishnaw's response came after the Trinamool sided with other opposition parties to criticise the Union Budget 2025.
Abhishek Banerjee, Ms Banerjee's nephew and practically the second in command in the Trinamool, said it had nothing for West Bengal and the NDA rule continues to keep the state "deprived".
"As in the past during the BJP's reign, there has not been enough allocation for the state in this budget. Our MPs have been vocal and sought a rise in the allocation of funds for central projects. We also demanded new projects for Bengal, but the state remains deprived," he had said.
