Regular polls hurt Mamata’s plans

Speaking at the commencement of Rs 252.54 crore project for constructing the third line between Panskura and Kharagpur at Mecheda in West Midnapore,Banerjee announced that a new ladies special train — Matangini Local — is on the cards. The train will run from Howrah to Kharagpur. A halt station,to be named as Ashapurna Devi station,will be constructed at Jinanpur near Mandarmani,a tourist spot,to make it accessible by train.

Banerjee said the execution of her development projects in the state will not suffer from fund crunch or land scarcity.

“My department has Rs 88,000 crore budget,much higher than the budget of the state government. We expect the rail budget will be nearly Rs 1,00,000 crore next year. We will do a lot of developmental work in the state and implement all our projects on the Railway land,so we do not need to acquire land,” said Banerjee.

She extended the Kisan Vision project to Panskura and Kolaghat and said cold storages will be constructed at the stations to store flowers,fruits and vegetables.

“We have asked the South Eastern Railways to find a place where they can set up the cold storages with multiple facilities. If they cannot find any place,then they will arrange for underground cold storages,” said Banerjee.