Trinamool MP showers praise on Adhir

Ambika Banerjee, Trinamool MP from Howrah district, today shared a platform with Adhir Chowdhury, the new Minister of State for Railways, and showered praises on him, describing him as a "dynamic person".

He said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had herself spoken out against the practice of paying and accepting "cut money", sending a stern message for probity in party affairs.

"She has identified the malaise and its medicine," he added.

Speaking at the event, Adhir said the pending railway projects should be expedited faster for the overall development of the Indian Railways. "There are projects that have been pending since 2005-06. Even the land has not been fully acquired for them," he said at the flagging-off ceremony of an Adra-Asansol Memu train.

He said to meet the huge cost of the various projects that have been announced, the department was categorising the projects. "An amount of Rs 4.5 lakh crore is required to finish all the outstanding railway projects. The government does not have that much money so we are identifying the projects at the moment and according to priority, they would be expedited," he said.

The rail minister announced a number of projects today, which he said would be completed by 2015. He also criticised the last government's decision of slowing train speed in Junglemahal after the Gyaneshwari mishap.

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