Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assumed charge as the Railway Minister at a brief programme organised at the Sealdah station in Kolkata in the presence of Railway Board chairman S S Khurana and other senior railway officials. Mamata decided against going to Rail Bhavan in New Delhi to take charge of the Ministry in the wake of cyclone Aila hitting the state on Monday.

Soon after she joined office, she took a special train to Kakdwip, one of the worst cyclone-hit areas in the state’s coastal belt, and also announced several relief initiatives. She blamed the CPI(M) Government for failing to take adequate precautionary steps before the cyclone hit while claiming that it was only after she alerted the Centre that the state Government began its rescue operations.

She said she was constantly in touch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Anthony ever since Aila lashed the state. “For 32 years, the state Government hasn’t done anything to prevent flood or erosion. Which is why the Army had to be called in and it happened only after we sought their help,” Mamata said.

On the train services that have been severely disrupted owing to agitations in Punjab and parts of Haryana following the death of a Dera leader in Vienna, she said, “There are passengers who are stranded in Punjab, especially in Jalandhar. We, with the help of gurdwaras, have been trying to provide relief, water and shelter to them. Pilgrims of Amarnath coming from Kashmir are also stranded. We will try and get these passengers on trains.”.

... contd.