With the railway budget falling short of expectations for North-East, the industry of the region has dubbed it as “one of the most disappointing” budgets ever presented by any railway minister. It also dubbed the promises made in the railway budget as “hollow” and “disgusting”.
“The railway budget for the year 2011-12 presented by Mamata Banerjee is one of the most disappointing railway budgets presented by any railway minister. The minister has not only totally ignored the concerns of the region, but by merely announcing some cosmetic changes and making hollow announcements without providing for requisite budgetary support has made mockery of her own “Vision 2020” document which speaks of inclusive development,” said RS Joshi, chairman of Federation of Industry and Commerce of North-Eastern Region (FINER), the premier trade and industry body of North-East. Joshi said that during the last budget, the railway minister had announced a “Master Plan” for the development of the North-Eastern Region, but even after a lapse of one year, the industry is “disgusted” to see that the said Master Plan is yet to take off.
Though Banerjee announced to set up a diesel locomotive centre in Manipur, capital city of which she said would be brought under the railway map soon, there were few takers in the region for her abysmal track record in implementing her erstwhile promise to set up a wagon manufacturing unit in Assam.