BJP takes state cry to House

NISHIT DHOLABHAI, The Telegraph: New Delhi, July 3: The BJP today raised the subject of Gorkhaland in Parliament in the garb of acute drinking water problem in the Darjeeling hills. Raising the issue of water scarcity during the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, BJP member Rajiv Pratap Rudy urged the government to look into the aspects of the demand for a new state or Gorkhaland. Rudy was apparently doing what Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh is expected to do in the Lower House during the budget session. The BJP threw up a small surprise for itself in an overall poor election result when it won the Darjeeling seat by a thumping margin after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha issued a fiat in the hills that all should vote for Singh’s party. Rudy started by criticising the Bengal government for going slow on the water supply projects in the hills. The Planning Commission had sanctioned a scheme for lifting water from the Balason river to meet potable water requirement of Darjeeling town. The project conceived in 1995 has not seen the light of the day. “This speaks aloud about the development that has taken place in north Bengal so much so that this has resulted in implications of raising a separate state for which the people of the Darjeeling hills have been struggling. They have been agitating for more than three decades now,” he said. “The neglect of the Queen of Hills with its poor infrastructure… coupled with growing discontent in the Dooars region and the plains… is a matter of concern,” Rudy told the Upper House. Expressing fears that the Darjeeling hills were growing into a “slum”, Rudy alleged a “consistent neglect of the entire north Bengal”. Rudy said since the area is in the chicken’s neck, the slim corridor that connects the rest of the country with the Northeast, it commands all the more attention. “The state borders three countries and it (north Bengal) is a gateway to Bhutan…Unrest in that region has created a dangerous situation,” said Rudy. The BJP leader iterated that the Gorkhaland demand needed to be looked into by the Centre. “The bottom line for us is to wait and watch and keep watching,” said an official of the home ministry that is facilitating the tripartite talks among the Centre, the state and the Morcha, which is spearheading the statehood movement. Morcha leaders led by the Darjeeling MP had recently called on Union home minister P. Chidambaram. Subba’s second day of strike JALPAIGURI, 3 JULY: The hunger-strike programme of the Gorkha Liberation Organisation chief and prime accused in the GNLF chief, Mr Subash Ghisingh’s assassination attempt in 2001, Mr Chattre Subba and five co-accused continued for the second day today. According to the Jalpaiguri jail authority, Mr Subba and the five co-accused refused liquid intake including water in the day. “The Jail authority urged them to withdraw the stir but they denied to demanding immediate release from jail. The jail doctors are monitoring their physical condition and there is not much to worry,” said a Jalpaiguri jail official on terms of anonymity. The ADM (general), Jalpaiguri, Mr NG Hira said: “We are watching the situation but cannot release them as it is a judicial matter.” ;SNS Landslides kill one in hills - NH31 and NH31A blocked - Dwellings destroyed in Kalimpong q Heavy rain forecast People walk through the rubble even as a bulldozer tries to clear NH31 near Sevoke Kalibari on Friday. (Kundan Yolmo) The Telegraph:Kalimpong, July 3: Heavy rain triggered landslides in different parts of Kalimpong subdivision last evening, killing one person and damaging many houses. The worst-affected areas are Nimbong and Pabringtar gram panchayats under Block I. At Borbat in Pabringtar, G.B. Mangar, 72, was buried alive after his house was swept away by a landslide. Sixteen more houses bore the brunt of the devastation and one of them was totally destroyed. As the approach roads to the area were disrupted at many places because of the slides, help was yet to reach the affected people. The subdivisional officer of Kalimpong, Amiyas Tshering, said the slides had affected more than a thousand people. “Eighty-one houses have been completely destroyed and 90 partially damaged. Relief items like blankets and tarpaulin sheets and food have reached Kafer, 10km from the worst-hit Nimbong,” said Tshering. The officer said Kalimpong town had received a rainfall of 114mm last evening. Edwin Subba, a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader, said over the phone from Nimbong that several affected families had been shifted to the Borbat Primary School. Apart from houses, farmlands were also destroyed by the landslides. “Maize, ginger and cardamom have been completely or partially destroyed at many places,” said Subba. In Kalimpong town, a woman, Manlachi Rai, had a lucky escape when a huge boulder came hurtling down the hillside and smashed into the living room of her house at 8 Mile below Mintri Petrol Pump. Rai, who lives alone, was sleeping in the adjoining bedroom when the incident occurred. It was only yesterday that MP Jaswant Singh wrote to the Union minister for mines and Northeast region, B. K. Handique, urging him to set up the National Centre for Landslides Research Studies and Management in Darjeeling. Debris hamper highway traffic OUR CORRESPONDENT An embankment along the Teesta that was damaged by Cyclone Aila faced the assault of the torrent while the repair was going on at Teesta Bazar. (Chinlop Fudong Lepcha) The Telegraph:Siliguri, July 3: Fresh landslides blocked NH31 and NH31A at Sevoke today, disrupting traffic from Siliguri to Sikkim and the Dooars for more than 10 hours. There were seven slides —five on a 3km-stretch of NH31 from Sevoke police outpost to Coronation Bridge and two on NH31A — triggered by incessant rain at three this morning. SNT Jhora and Pagla Jhora are the two spots where the slides occurred on NH31A. The traffic on both the roads was restored partially at 1pm and completely at 5pm. Sevoke — which is around 30km from here — is the place where NH31 is split into two, with one (NH31A) going to Sikkim and the other to Assam through the Dooars. The highways were cleared of rubble by workers of the PWD’s NH Circle III and the Border Roads Organisation. “Our workers started the operation at 8am and it took them five hours to allow small vehicles to pass,” said Dhurba Chakraborty, the superintendent engineer of Circle III. The labourers engaged excavators to remove mud and boulders from the roads. Following the slides, a large number of vehicles were stranded on the two roads. According to officials of Sikkim’s East district, heavy vehicles carrying foodgrain and essential supplies like petrol and diesel to the state had been stuck at Sevoke. They said some tourists had taken alternative routes via Darjeeling and Kalimpong to reach Siliguri, while others had extended their stay. Several passengers, including tourists, crossed the affected spots by foot. “I am going to Nepal and started from Gangtok for Siliguri early this morning. When I found that there was hardly any possibility to reach Siliguri on time if I waited for the road to be cleared, I decided to walk from a slide spot up Coronation Bridge. I walked for almost 10km and reached Sevoke Bazar to get into another vehicle,” said Deepak Balani, a resident of Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh. Prankrishna Das, the officer-in-charge of the Sevoke police outpost, said the roads were reopened for all vehicles at 5pm. Sevoke had been hit by landslides on Wednesday also, blocking NH31 for more than 30 hours. The Regional Meteorological Office at Jalpaiguri said Sevoke had recorded 332.4mm rainfall in the past 24 hours. Siliguri received 126mm rain, Kalimpong 114.2mm and Hasimara 106.4mm. An official of the Met office said heavy to very heavy rainfall was likely to occur in the catchment areas of different rivers in north Bengal in the next 24 hours. The PWD official apprehend that if the rain continues unabated, there will be recurrence of slides at different places near Sevoke. DHR hit The Darjeeling Himalayn Railway (DHR) track between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling was damaged by the heavy rain that also brought down stones and sand on NH55. A media release issued by S. Hajong, the chief public relations officer of Northeast Frontier Railway at Maligaon, said heavy landslide had occurred between Mahanadi and Gayabari railway station. “About 20 metres of the track were hanging completely and 17 metres partially because of the mishap. So, the trains will remain cancelled till the completion of the restoration work,” said the release. Cornered CPM’s victory meet stuns observers SILIGURI, 3 JULY: The CPI-M held a victory meeting in Siliguri town today to celebrate its “remarkable performance” in the recently concluded panchayat polls in Siliguri sub-division, surprising many who view the results as a serious blow to the CPI-M. For the first time in 21 years the CPI-M has lost, to the Congress-led Opposition, a majority of 13 out of the 22 gram panchayats (GP), two of the four panchayat samities (PS) and three of the seven mahakuma parishad (SMP) seats in Siliguri. Since the previous election, along with its allies, the CPI-M won 17 GPs, all 4 PS, and the SMP in its totality. Despite this major trouncing, the ruling Communists gathered at Baghajatin Park in Siliguri on the afternoon of 3 July to celebrate their recapturing of the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad board by 4:3, a marginal one seat face-saving victory at the highest tier of the three-tier panchayati system. The gathering, organised under the banner of the district Left Front, was also attended by representatives of the CPI and the Forward Bloc, but the RSP chose to stay away. Addressing the open celebration, the state urban development minister and the leading face of the CPI-M in Siliguri, Mr Asok Bhattacharya, termed the reoccupying of the SMP board a “significant victory” especially when “a hostile political wave is blowing against the LF”. Introducing the party's victorious SMP members to the gathering, Mr Bhattacharya also called upon the party cadres to overcome shortcomings and reach out more to the common people. CPI district secretary, Mr Ujjal Choudhury, Forward Bloc leader Mr Pranab Das, and CPI-M district secretariat member Mr Jibesh Sarkar, were also present at the gathering. The CPI-M had earlier planned a victory procession to take place in Siliguri town on 3 July, which Mr Jibesh Sarkar had announced on 1 July, the counting day. But the party later shelved the plan, as some leaders within the LF, especially from the RSP, pointed out that bringing out a victory procession after this rout would be self-humiliating. Thus, the celebration today remained confined to holding an open victory meet instead. ;SNS NO BUS TAXI FARE HIKE IMMEDIATELY Kolkata , July 3, ANI: The West Bengal government today ruled out any immediate hike in bus and taxi fares in view of the steep rise in diesel and petrol prices. The state&aposs transport minister, Subhas Chakraborty, told reporters after he discussed the consequences of the price hike with Joint Council of Bus Syndicates that he had asked them to impress upon the Centre to reduce the fuel prices. '' Those who met me were UPA men and I have asked them to impress upon the UPA government in this regard,'' Chakraborty said. RAILWAY BUDGET- PLANS FOR SIKKM, NEW JALPAIGURI, NORTH BENGAL PIB, NEW DELHI,3 JULY: Ten rail projects in the North-East region have been declared as national projects. These include Bogibeel rail cum road bridge and gauge conversion of Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam, Rangia-Murkongselek. To ensure strict adherence to time schedules for completion on these projects, senior officers are being entrusted with their close monitoring. This was announced by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee in Parliament today. Presenting the Railway Budget for 2009-10, she said, the North-East Region is very sensitive and its projects are in progress for providing connectivity to State capitals of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. The Minister said, the construction of national project in Sikkim from Sivok to Rangpo is proposed to be entrusted to IRCON for time bound completion. The surveys for new lines connecting Gangtok and Shillong have been completed and the proposals would be further processed for necessary clearances. Kumari Mamata Banerjee said, a proposal for creation of North-East Region Rail Development Fund has already been initiated to ensure necessary funds for timely completion of National Projects in the region. The Minister said, the work of Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion is getting adversely affected due to adverse law and order conditions in the area. She said, the matter has been taken up with the concerned authorities for providing necessary security so that the work could progress smoothly. STATIONS TO BE DEVELOPED PIB, NEW DELHI,3 JULY:About 50 stations are to be developed into world class stations with international level facilities. Presenting the Railway Budget 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha today, the Railway Minister Kumari Mamata Banerjee said that these stations would be developed through innovative financing and in Public Private Partnership mode. Some of these stations are: CST Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Howrah, Sealdah, Bhubaneswar, New Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Amritsar, Kanpur, Guwahati, Jaipur, Chennai Central, Tiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad, Tirupati, Bangalore City, Baiyapanahali (Bangalore), Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Habibganj, Gaya Jn., Agra Cantt., Mathura Jn., Chandigarh, Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, Majerhat, Mangalore, Porbandar, Anand Vihar, Brijwasan, Ajmer Jn., and Puri. BONANZA FOR PRESS PIB, NEW DELHI,3 JULY:The Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee today announced a new method of concessions to be given to accredited press correspondents in the Railway Budget for 2009-10. Under the new method instead of giving coupons, it is now proposed to issue photo identification cum credit card based on the certification by the Press Information Bureau and other competent State and local authorities. On production of this card the Press Correspondents would be able to get reservation done and also tickets issued from the PRS/UTS counters through this card. Kumari Mamata Banerjee said facilities would also be provided to get compact accommodation for both the Press Correspondents and their family members who are not availing this concession. In addition, concession of 30% will be increased to 50% for accredited press correspondents and permission will be given for once a year to travel with spouse at 50% concession. (PIB) SUMMARY OF RAILWAY BUDGET 2009-10 Ø NO INCREASE IN PASSENGER FARE AND FREIGHT TARIFF Ø BUDGET TO HAVE INCLUSIVE GROWTH AND EXPANSION OF RAILWAY NETWORK TO EVERY CORNER OF THE COUNTRY Ø PLAN OUTLAY OF RS.40,745 CR. PROPOSED FOR 2009-2010, Ø PASSENGER AMENITIES GET HIGH PRIORITY, TO GET 119% INCREASE Ø TRAFFIC RECEIPTS DURING 2008-09 INCREASE BY 11.4 % WHILE FREIGHT LOADING GREW @ 5% Ø SPECIAL TRAINS FOR PERISHABLE FARM PRODUCE, FACILITIES FOR TRANSPORTATION OF RURAL CRAFT Ø WORKS FOR 7 NEW LINES, GAUGE CONVERSION OF 17 LINES AND DOUBLING OF 13 LINES TO BE TAKEN UP Ø FASTER PARCEL SERVICES PROPOSED ON THREE ROUTS Ø TATKAL SCHEME TO BE MADE PASSENGER FRIENDLY Ø RAILWAY TICKETS TO BE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH POST OFFICES AND ‘MUSHKIL AASAAN’ MOBILE VANS Ø CONCESSION FOR PRESS PERSONS INCREASED TO 50% Ø MONTHLY TICKET OF RS. 25/- FOR UNORGANIZED SECTOR/POOR UNDER ‘IZZAT’ SCHEME Ø “ONLY LADIES’ EMU TRAINS AT DELHI, KOLKATA AND CHENNAI Ø ‘YUVA TRAINS’ FROM RURAL HINTERLAND TO METROS AT CONCESSIONAL FARE Ø 12 NEW POINT-TO-POINT ‘DURANTO’ TRAINS Ø 57 NEW TRAINS, EXTENSION OF 27 TRAINS AND INCREASE IN FREQUENCY OF 13 TRAINS AND AIR-CONDITIONED DOUBLE-DECKER TRAINS PROPOSED Ø 50 STATIONS TO BE UPGRADED TO WORLD CLASS STATIONS Ø LONG DISTANCE TRAINS TO HAVE ON-BOARD DOCTORS AND INFOTAINMENT SERVICES Ø HANDICAPPED AND AGED PERSONS TO HAVE MORE AMENITIES Ø SPECIAL TRAINS TO FERRY PERISHABLE AGRO PRODUCTS AND RURAL HANDICRAFTS Ø SPECIAL FUND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EAST RAILWAY Ø QUAZIGUND-ANANTNAG LINE TO BE COMPLETED BY NEXT MONTH Ø 6560 RAILWAY STAFF QUARTERS TO BE CONSTRUCTED AND GROUP ‘D’ EMPLOYEES TO GET SCHOLARSHIPS FOR THEIR GIRL CHILD Ø RAILWAYS TO COME OUT WITH WHILE PAPER ON FINANCIAL STATUS AND VISION-2020 DOCUMENT Loads of new trains & promises of more tracks on Mamata lips The Telegraph: Siliguri, July 3: Eight new expresses have been announced for north Bengal with promises of tracks on a few stretches — one even connecting Mirik to Gangtok. Among the additions are a train to Calcutta from New Jalpaiguri and another to Delhi. What came as a pleasant surprise to many was Mamata Banerjee’s announcement of a daily express from Balurghat in South Dinajpur to New Jalpaiguri and a weekly train between New Jalpaiguri and Digha. A demand of the residents of the Dooars — a train between Alipurduar and New Jalpaiguri via Siliguri — has also been met (see chart). Two trains from Farakka — one to New Delhi and another to Nabadwip Dham — are expected to benefit the people of Malda. They can avail of the trains by reaching Farakka, 30km away. “Many of our demands have been fulfilled,” said Biswajit Das, the general secretary of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, North Bengal. “It is a good budget and we feel the railway network will improve in the coming years.” Three new weekly trains — New-Delhi-Guwahati Rajdhani Express via Muzaffarpur, Kamakhya-Puri Express and the Dibrugarh Town-Chandigarh Express — for the Northeast will pass through north Bengal. The frequency of 2423/2424 New Delhi-Guwahati Rajdhani has been increased from five to six days and the Ranchi-Alipurduar Express has been extended to Guwahati. “Apart from the new trains, we are looking forward to seeing an improvement in infrastructure and construction of multi-facility complexes in Darjeeling and Alipurduar,” said Suresh Periwal, the chairman of the north Bengal and Sikkim chapter of the Indian Association of Tour Operators. The railway minister has also said New Jalpaiguri will be one of the 50 in the country, which will be made world class. Ten halts in north Bengal will be made Adarsh stations (see chart). Proposals have also been made to lay tracks on the Balurghat-Hilli, Samsi-Dalkhola, Kaliaganj-Buniadpur, Chalsa-Jaldhaka and Mirik-Gangtok stretches. “It is nice to learn that the new railway minister is considering the proposal to start rail services in Sikkim,” said S.K. Sarda, the president of the Sikkim Chambers of Commerce. “We hope work on the Sevoke-Rangpo route will begin soon. This will facilitate goods transport since the trade route to China through Nathu-la has opened.” Mamata plays job-giver - Bid to shed image of being anti-industry SANJAY MANDAL Mamata Banerjee enters Parliament to present her budget. Picture by Rajesh Kumar The Telegraph:Calcutta, July 3: Mamata Banerjee today tried to shed her post-Singur “anti-industry” image by announcing a series of projects for Bengal that would “help in providing employment”. In her railway budget, she announced a new coach factory at the Kanchrapara-Halishahar railway complex in North 24-Parganas, a 1000MW power plant at Purulia’s Adra, a component factory at Dankuni, Hooghly, and a high-speed bogie casting unit at Majherhat, South 24-Parganas. Besides, the railways is talking to the Union heavy industries ministry to see if the wagon manufacturing units of Burn Standard and Braithwaite can be taken over. Mamata also asked the Bengal government to hand over to the railways the state-run printing press, Basumati Sahitya Mandir, which “unfortunately is lying unutilised”. She told Parliament: “I visualise an eastern industrial corridor developing alongside (the) eastern dedicated freight corridor (proposed between Ludhiana and Calcutta) similar to the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.” She announced plans for “productive use” of her ministry’s “land banks” — railway land lying unused — by industry. “This will help in early start of industrial projects.” The proposed factory at Kanchrapara-Halishahar will have the capacity to manufacture 500 coaches every year and will be set up as a public-private partnership (PPP). “There is a very high demand for EMU and Metro coaches and capacity addition is an immediate requirement,” Mamata said. Railway officials said there was enough land at the complex for the factory. Bhaskar Chaudhuri, former chief commercial manager of Eastern Railway, said: “With a number of new trains announced and the need for replacement of old coaches, there will be a huge demand for new coaches. So there is a need for new production units.” The Adra power plant will create jobs for local tribals. Power department sources said some 2,000 unskilled labourers would be needed to set up the plant, another PPP project. Railway sources said the ministry was looking for potential partners and would start talks with the National Thermal Power Corporation. Officials said that since Adra was a divisional headquarters of South Eastern Railway, the railways had enough land there for the plant. “This project is of great importance as it would be located in an under-developed area and will help in providing employment and bringing the tribal people into the mainstream,” Mamata said, a remark loaded with political significance after the Lalgarh agitation and crackdown. “The entire power generated by the plant will be used by the railways. But since the railways do not have their own distribution grid, they will have to use national grids,” a railway official said. The CPM’s Basudev Acharya, who headed the just-dissolved House standing committee on railways, denied that the railways had enough land in Adra for the plant. “The plant will require about 1,000 acres, which is not available with the railways at Adra. It will need to acquire land,” he said. “Mamata is opposing the power plant in Katwa on the issue of land acquisition but is doing it for a railway project.” Acharya had proposed that the existing wagon repair shop at Adra be converted into a manufacturing unit. Mamata told Parliament: “There is a growing demand for wagons; so we propose to initiate the process of taking over the wagon units of Burn Standard and Braithwaite.” During 2009-10, the railways plan to acquire 18,000 wa-gons compared with 11,000 in 2008-09. If some of the orders go to these two firms, new jobs could be created in these factories. This could also save jobs in the factories of these companies’ numerous suppliers from the Hooghly-Asansol industrial belt. The CPM trade unions that once ruled this belt are already feeling the heat. Burn Standard officials said: “Unions and workers are shifting loyalties to Trinamul. It’s a political tectonic shift in this region.” Didi late, but on tracks CHARU SUDAN KASTURI A passenger waits for a train to leave Amritsar station. (AFP) The Telegraph: New Delhi, July 3: Fifteen minutes past 10am, the time Mamata Banerjee had planned to leave her apartment for Rail Bhavan to pick up the budget papers, she was still stuck at home. Two rail ministry officials arrived, leapt out of their car and raced inside. Ten minutes later, the Trinamul Congress chief walked out, her trademark purple jhola(cloth bag) slung across her shoulder. She was late, and had to carry a packet of biscuits with her to fortify a near-empty stomach, a household aide said. But Mamata did not allow delay or disturbance to derail her as she weathered repeated taunts to present her third rail budget. Rail ministers usually carry budget papers in a suitcase. They usually come in white Ambassadors. Mamata chose her jhola and travelled in her usual grey Maruti Zen, driven by close aide Ratan Mukherjee. As she rose to read out her speech, the CPM’s Basudev Acharya stood up to interrupt. Despite being asked by the Speaker to sit down, Acharya continued for about three minutes. But Mamata took off on her speech, ignoring Acharya’s interruptions even as Congress and Trinamul MPs clamoured for the CPM leader to sit down. Mamata’s predecessor Lalu Prasad was the next to interrupt. “Laluji, aapka respect karti hoon, aap jab bolte the to main kuch nahi bolti. Aapko bhi sunna chahiye (Laluji, I respect you, when you would speak, I never interrupted you. You too should listen),” Mamata tried to reason. Before long, though, Lalu Prasad was up again, arguing that most new proposals to upgrade stations appeared to be ignoring Bihar. “Hai… woh bhi hai (It’s there),” Mamata said, insisting that she was reading out only select stations to save time. Later, she even indulged in banter with Lalu Prasad. Announcing plans to transform 375 stations into “ideal” ones, Mamata jocularly sought the Speaker’s permission to read out the entire list for Lalu Prasad’s benefit. But it was at her apartment that she faced the first hurdle, sources close to her said. “Didi” was expected to leave home around 10 am. But even as she was getting ready to leave, Mamata asked railway officials for “last-minute” clarifications on budget documents. With media personnel crowding Rail Bhavan, any discussion on the budget had to be held at Mamata’s house, sources said. Pat from CPM & ‘stale’ punch BISWAJIT ROY The Telegraph: Calcutta, July 3: The CPM today grudgingly patted “positive measures” in Mamata Banerjee’s rail budget but rapped her for lacking “fresh ideas” to tackle falling revenues in times of recession. The politburo welcomed her move not to hike passenger fares and to introduce the Rs 25 monthly ticket for people earning up to Rs 1,500 a month. At the same time, it demanded “reversal of moves towards privatisation and outsourcing” that purportedly got a major thrust in the budget. It also appreciated Mamata’s promise to provide more rail jobs to women, minorities, SC/STs and the physically challenged, though it was clear the move was aimed at further denting the Left Front’s support base among the Muslims and SC/STs in Bengal. The politburo, however, felt the “positive measures” were “overshadowed” by Mamata’s lack of innovation in tackling falling revenues. Mamata has “failed to come up with any fresh ideas… and turn around the declining revenue situation…” the statement said. “The railway minister’s reliance on several PPP (public-private partnership) projects, from development of 50 world class stations, new freight and coach terminals, logistics parks, special purpose rolling stocks, perishable cargo centres etc seems completely misplaced at a time of economic recession when private investment is hardly forthcoming.” In Delhi, CPM leader Basudev Acharya minced no words when he said some of Mamata’s measures had been taken with an eye on the 2011 Bengal elections. “New trains, most of them for Bengal, have been announced keeping the (2011) elections in mind....” Prodded if the budget was the Trinamul Congress manifesto for the Bengal poll, he said: “Yes, it is almost that.” In Calcutta, Bengal CPM secretary Biman Bose admitted the “populist edge” but added: “She has remained silent on 124 pending projects and did not speak on filling vacant posts. She spoke of taking over (sick press) Basumati. What about the underused railway printing establishments?” He parried questions on the projects proposed for Bengal. “I have not gone through the details. I have a flight to catch,” he said.