Mamata's budget 2011 pleases masses, ignores serious issues
The railway budget 2011, which was presented by Mamata Banerjee on February 25 did indeed go down well with a major part of the population, with no hike in fares, but has been roundly criticized by the opposition.
FRIDAY SEEMED to have proved lucky for the masses after Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee announced the railway budget 2011 in the Parliament. This year, the “aam aadmi” can heave a sigh of relief as there was no rise in the price of tickets. In an attempt to attract more passengers to AC trains, the booking amount was reduced to Rs 10 and Rs 5 for others. Keeping in mind the needs of the differently abled, concessions were announced for them in the Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express trains.
Fifty-six new express trains, 9 Duronto and 3 new shatabdis, too, were announced so as to meet with growing demands. This year, about Rs 57,630 crore will be invested in the railway services, making it one of the highest and most expensive budgets ever being proposed. It is the third consecutive time in a row that ticket prices in railways have been untouched.Two hundred and thirt six stations will developed into Adarsh stations. A scheme called “ Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana” has also been proposed, which would have a non-lapsable fund. The budget aims at providing 40 new lines, double upto 867 km tracks and electrification of 1,000 km.
The railway budget 2011 did not go down well with the opposition leaders, who complained that the minister had been biased towards West Bengal, by giving 135 trains to the state. Amidst this argument, the opposition leaders stalled the budget session for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh dubbed the budget as a “common man’s budget” and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee also felt it was a “good budget”.
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