After giving them attractive Durga Puja gifts, railway minister Mamata Banerjee is getting ready with Diwali gifts hamper for the people of West Bengal. She has selected CPI(M)’s strong bastions like Burdwan and Purulia to shower her largesses. “Didi will be touring Burdwan, Bankura and Purulia over the weekend where she will
announce a string of railway projects,” sources in the Railways said. Icing on the cake will be the launch of India’s first air-conditioned double-decker train which Ms Banerjee is expected to flag off next week. The eight-coach train will run between Howrah and Dhanbad.
As per her announced programme, Ms Banerjee will visit Burdwan on October 30 where she will address a meeting at Andal. “She will lay the foundation stone for a wagon factory. This factory will be set up at Kulti in Burdwan district and is likely to be the second important installation of this kind after Chittaranjan Locomotive Works,” sources added.
Ms Banerjee will visit Bankura and Purulia on October 31. In Purulia, she will green light two projects. The Railways will set up a coach manufacturing and rehabilitation factory at Anara and a thermal power project at Adra. This power project will be a joint venture between the Railways and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). Ms Banerjee has already made it clear that she will not acquire land from the farmers through coercive means. In fact, the thermal power project and coach factory and rehabilitation workshop in Purulia will be set up on land which the Railways already has in its huge land bank. The Bengal Wagon Industry will be set up in Kulti in Burdwan in collaboration with the Steel Authority of India.
Union steel minister Vir Bhadra Singh will also be present in Andal in Burdwan when Ms Banerjee will lay the foundation stone for the wagon manufacturing unit. This unit will come up on SAIL’s land.
Purulia and Bankura are two of the three Maoist-affected districts in the state. West Midnapore is the other one. She has already addressed a rally in Midnapore a few weeks ago. These districts have so far been CPI(M)’s stronghold but Ms Banerjee is determined to make inroads there. The Maoists have made her job easier by selectively targeting CPI(M) supporters.