‘Don’t I like Dehradun...?’ Mamata asks House

Political Bureau
Posted: Friday, Jul 10, 2009 at 2136 hrs IST
Updated: Friday, Jul 10, 2009 at 2136 hrs IST

Font Size

Feedback

Discuss

Voting ends in R'sthan by-polls, 50% polling recor...Indira Gandhi proved India is not a soft state Prove majority within week: Governor to Hooda State Govt responsible for Khagaria carnage: RJD

New Delhi: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she had no intention of selling railway property under the PPP model, that her focus remained on the core areas of the railways and that she was not running a “parallel government” while heading the biggest ministry.

Replying to the discussion on the Rail Budget in both Houses of Parliament, Banerjee exuded confidence and poise as she took on criticism that she had been excessively biased towards West Bengal while giving shape to the Budget.

She also tried to wriggle out of the controversy over her promise to come out with a White Paper on the railway’s performance in the last five years, which the opposition has seized to embarrass her and attack Lalu Yadav. She said that white papers were brought out by her predecessors as well and it was meant only to arrive at the factual position.

“Don’t I like Dehradun, or Nainital in Uttarakhand, Ranchi, Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat....,” she said, responding to criticism that she was only focussed on Bengal.

Elaborating on her PPP model, she said she would be leasing out the railway land to private players to be developed into facilities that would eventually benefit the passengers. “I will not corporatise it. I am the last person to do so” she said vehemently.

She also said that opening medical colleges and hospitals on railway land did not amount to running a parallel government. “These facilities have existed even before I took over. They are for the 16 lakh railway employees and their families. So what if I have announced a medical college” she countered.

Post Comments

Comments: (Limit 3,000 characters)

Name		Message
Email ID
Subject

TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).

I agree to the terms of use.

Comments

» West Bengal and Mamta Banerji

Posted by darvan on 2009-07-10 08:06:10.607508+05:30
These churlish MP's know nothing about the country. Kolkatta,Haldia beside being major shipping hubs ,are also serving,Nepal,Bhutan,Tibet. Being major population centres carry enormous freight and passenger traffic,and have strategic defence importance. Instead contributing something Technological to the wellbeing of the Railways,they are full of rowdyism,nothing else. Speaker of house seems to be ineffective in promoting intelligent contributions from the members.

Reply Forward