The Hindu : It's for PM to decide, says Mamata

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 05, 2002

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National

It's for PM to decide, says Mamata

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 4. The Samata-Mamata deadlock over the issue of bifurcation of the Eastern Railway continued today with the Trinamool Congress remaining firm in its demand for a review of the decision and keeping the June 14 notification on creating a new East Central Railway on hold till the issue was sorted out.

But ruling out review of the decision to create new railway zones, the Samata leader and Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar, said he was only implementing the decision taken earlier and maintained that Parliament had already approved it.

Allaying fears that new zones would hamper the coordination and smooth flow of traffic, he said, "there will be no effect whatsoever on freight movement and passenger traffic. New zones will also help improve the efficiency of the railways.''

The Railway Minister has apprised the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, of the rationale behind the decision.

The Trinamool Congress also sought the immediate intervention by the Prime Minister to resolve the issue. (The new zone, to be made operational from October, has taken away Danapur, Mughalsarai and Dhanbad divisions of the Eastern railway.)

The party chief, Mamata Banerjee, left for Kolkata today saying "the ball is in the Prime Minister's court. He has the authority to direct the Railway Minister to withdraw the order.''

She is slated to attend a meeting of her party's general council in Kolkata on July 6.

The Samata Party leader and Defence Minister, George Fernandes, indicated that the Prime Minister was looking into the matter.

It was unfortunate that the issue was perceived as a "Bengal vs Bihar" fight, he said.

The Trinamool Congress leader, Sudip Bandopadhyay, told mediapersons that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, the CAG, the Rakesh Mohan panel and prominent trade unions had opposed the creation of new railway zones as they would put an additional burden on the exchequer.

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