Bengal railway projects: Mamata seeks credit, BJP jibe follows

 Today is my happiest day, says chief minister

Mamata Banerjee during the launch of the Vande Bharat Express at Howrah station on Friday.: Sanat Kr Sinha

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   31.12.22  :  The BJP and Trinamul Congress locked horns to claim credit for Bengal railway projects that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated virtually from Ahmedabad on Friday.

The claim over the projects was raised by chief minister Mamata Banerjee during the inaugural event at Howrah station. She said four projects launched on Friday had been announced during her tenure as the railway minister.

“Today is my happiest day because my dream project when I was the railway minister I inaugurated the Taratala-Joka (metro) along with Pratibha Patilji... other three projects you’re inaugurating today, I’m very happy... out of five projects, four projects are (from) my time (as the minister). But today you’re inaugurating them, I’m very happy,” Mamata said while addressing the event.

She conveyed her gratitude to former Calcutta mayor Sovan Chatterjee and Bengal urban development minister Firhad Hakim for facilitating the land acquisition process for the Joka and Taratala metro stations.

According to sources in the railway department, the four projects that were inaugurated on Friday were started during Mamata’s tenure. They are the Joka-Taratala metro line, Boinchi-Shaktigarh third line, Dankuni-Chandanpur fourth line and the Nimtita-New Farakka double line projects.

Additionally, Modi also launched the Vande Bharat Express that will connect Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, the  Ambari Falakata-New Maynaguri-Gumanihat doubling project, and also laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of the New Jalpaiguri railway station.

“Sir, you’ll be happy to know that when I was the railway minister, I submitted a white paper and 2010 vision document... where I mentioned 50 world-class stations, along with the Jalpaiguri station. So, I’m very happy that Bengal is getting this,” Mamata said, asserting that it was her idea to redevelop the New Jalpaiguri station.

A train in the Joka-Taratala metro section that was inaugurated on Friday.: Bishwarup Dutta

The Trinamul Congress chairperson added that the Boinchi-Shaktigarh third line project had been announced in the 2010-11 railway budget. While some of these projects were launched between 1999 and 2001, the rest were started between 2010 and 2011, the chief minister said.

The BJP said Mamata was politicising the inaugural event by claiming credit for the railway projects.

“I’m glad that she at least didn’t claim that she had built the Howrah Bridge. What has she done for Bengal when she was the railway minister? She will just announce projects, her ploy to gain people’s support to become the chief minister,” BJP’s national vice-president and Midnapore MP Dilip Ghosh said.

He added that the Bengal government had not been able to clear any land issue that had cropped up during the development of the metro lines.

“The central government had to intervene to facilitate the East-West metro line by resolving land issues at Salt Lake. The purple line (Joka-Taratala metro) also got delayed because of land issues and the state did nothing,” he added. Although the saffron camp has tried to refute Mamata’s claims, sources in the railways affirmed that the four projects she spoke about had actually been launched during her tenure.

Mamata also invoked “the sacrifice” made by the people of Behala, a neighbourhood in south Calcutta, for the Joka-Taratala metro line.

“Because the railway work was going on at that time, some shopkeepers, some hawkers, some passengers suffered. And today their dream, my dream programme is being implemented. I thank the people of the state, along with the people of Behala,” she said.