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| A rally brought out by SFI and DYFI against the railway budget in Siliguri on Thursday. (Kundan Yolmo) |
Siliguri, March 15: The fine print of the railway budget shows a meagre allocation of funds for the projects in north Bengal, inviting criticism from political parties as well as the common people.
The details of the funds allocation are included in the Pink Book 2012-13 published by the railway ministry. The book also contains the income and expenditure projected by the ministry for the ensuing fiscal.
The CPM said it would take decades to finish the construction of the rail route between Rangpo and Sevoke and the axle manufacturing factory at New Jalpaiguri as only a small fraction of the required funds had been earmarked in this budget.
“The budget is the classic example of the Trinamul Congress’s populism politics. We have learnt that in some projects, the allotments have been as low as Rs 1 crore or Rs 50 lakh, which means that the party and its leaders are making a fool of the people,” said former minister and CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya.
The Pink Book reveals that Rs 3,254.94 crore more is needed to complete the Sevoke-Rangpo railway route, while only Rs 38 crore (around one per cent of the required amount) has been sanctioned. The allocation for the axle unit at NJP is Rs 20 crore, that is around 10 per cent of the amount needed (Rs 244.11 crore).
A Siliguri resident said there would be a cash crunch in the next financial year to finish most of the projects announced during Mamata Banerjee’s term as the railway minister in the UPA 11 government.
“The only exception might be the laying of tracks along the New Mainaguri-Jogighopa, New Mal-Mainaguri Road and New Changrabandha-Changrabandha rail routes, for which Rs 225 crore has been earmarked. The project needs around Rs 215 crore more,” he said.
Mamata Banerjee’s pet projects for the Darjeeling hills — composite brake block manufacture unit and the upgrade of hospital at Tindharia and a nursing institute in Kurseong — will also be short of funds.
Trivedi announced around Rs 1.5 crore for the three projects, while the actual amount needed for their completion crosses the Rs 30 crore mark.
The budget came under attack from Congress leaders in North Dinajpur as well. “It is surprising to see that small amounts have been sanctioned for the new routes in South and North Dinajpurs. We have no idea when these projects will be commissioned,” said Mohit Sengupta, the North Dinajpur district Congress president.
The minister allocated Rs 15 crore for the Kaliaganj-Buniadpur route in North Dinajpur against the required amount of Rs 161.66 crore. The allocation for the new route between Balurghat and Hili in South Dinajpur is Rs 14 crore.
The Pink Book shows that Rs 166.97 crore more is needed to finish the project.
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