Railway Budget 2010 - Mamata Banerjee's Speech

Before we start watching the Rail Budget 2011, let’s have a look at what Mamata Banerjee had to say in the last year’s budget. How much of it has been implemented and how those promises have affected us will give us an insight into how much we should expect from the Rail Budget 2011.

Last year, Mamata Banerjee started the speech by saying she had 2 considerations in mind: Viability of projects and social responsibility.

She announced Mission 2020 of short term and long term goals.

Here are the highlights, announcements and proposals of Mamata Banerjee's Railway Budget 2010 speech: 

• No hike in passenger fare
• Free travel for cancer patients in Third AC and sleeper class; 75 percent concession for companion
• A special task force to be set up to clear investment proposals within 100 days.
• Railway exams to be conducted in Hindi, English and Urdu languages
• Considering that bottled water turns out to be expensive for the passengers, Mamata Banerjee proposed 6 bottling plants that would help provide clean and fresh water at much cheaper rates. Plant locations - Ambala, Thiruvananthapuram, Farakka, Amethi and Nasik
• No privatization of railways
• Rs 1300 Crores to be allocated for amenities for passengers
• Improvement of security of women passengers
• 5 sports academies to be set up
• RFID technology for freight transport
• Launching of Double Decker trains (pilot launch)
• Ex-servicemen to be inducted to RPF (Mamata announced this after quoting Lata Mangeshkar's song  Zara yaad karo qurbaani)
• Insurance facility for licensed porters
• Women's RPF wing to be formed 
• Railways to set up Rabindra Museum in Howrah, Geetanjali Museum in Bolpur  
• Bharat Tirth train to mark Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary
• Special train during Commonwealth Games
• 101 new suburban trains in Mumbai
• New suburban trains in Chennai
• New train service to Bangladesh
• No increase in freight tarriff 
• High-speed dedicated passenger corridors
• Freight reduction on foodgrains and kerosene
• Houses for railway employees of 10 years
• 10 new Duronto trains  
• 54 new trains in 2010
• New tourist trains on tourist routes
• 80000 new wagons
• New Janmabhoomi train between Ahmedabad and Udhampur
• New Karmabhoomi train for working class
• Matribhoomi special trains for women
• Service charge on AC fares to be Rs 20 instead of Rs 40
• Mobile e-ticketing facility at hospitals, courts, universities, IITs, IIMs
• Design, Development and Testing centre to be set up at Bangalore
• Railway research centre at IIT Kharagpur
• 13000 unmanned level crossings to be converted to manned level crossings

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Mamata Banerjee's sense of humour during Railway Budget 2010 Speech

Listening to Rail Budget is not just important but is fun too! So if you had enjoyed Lalu Prasad Yadav's speech all these years, Mamata Banerjee won't disappoint you either. Here are some examples of her humour during 2010 Railway Budget speech:

"Rajdhani jaise bol rahi hoon na!" - When she was reading in speed
"If you don't listen na, I'll cut"- When there was lot of interruption and noise
"Unka naam kya hai... chillate bahut hain"- getting irritated at someone interrupting a lot
"Chup chaap baithega toh pura padhega,nahi tph nahi padhega"- responding to noise
"Isko naam deta hian kormo bhumi, first is matribhumi"
"Chapra kaha hain - Chapra?" Mamata attacking Lalu Prasad Yadav
"1 minute chillao, chillao"         
"Dekho bhai mereko pronouncation khrap ho jayga to aste aste bolli, chellao na, aree baba!"
"Mumbai mein 100 train diya to kuch kahe nehi bola, why why why bengal ke liye chillata hai"
"Kaam kiya hai iske liye lamba likh diya hai" - on the long list
"Khudi ko kar buland itna ke har taqdeer se pehle, khuda bande se ye pooche bata teri razaa kya hai" - quoting at the end of the Railway Budget 2010 speech
I thank Samiran Ghosh for helping me cover it all!

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Mamata Banerjee's Railway Budget 2010 Speech Live Updates - Text

Mamata Banerjee started the speech by saying she had 2 considerations in mind: Viability of projects and social responsibility.

Mamata Banerjee announced Mission 2020 of short term and long term goals.

Here are the highlights, announcements and proposals of Mamata Banerjee's Railway Budget 2010 speech: http://bombay-local.blogspot.com/2010/02/mamata-banerjees-railway-budget-2010_24.html

• No hike in passenger fare
• Free travel for cancer patients in Third AC and sleeper class; 75 percent concession for companion
• A special task force to be set up to clear investment proposals within 100 days.
• Railway exams to be conducted in Hindi, English and Urdu languages
• Considering that bottled water turns out to be expensive for the passengers, Mamata Banerjee proposed 6 bottling plants that would help provide clean and fresh water at much cheaper rates. Plant locations - Ambala, Thiruvananthapuram, Farakka, Amethi and Nasik
• No privatization of railways
• Rs 1300 Crores to be allocated for amenities for passengers
• Improvement of security of women passengers
• 5 sports academies to be set up
• RFID technology for freight transport
• Launching of Double Decker trains (pilot launch)
• Ex-servicemen to be inducted to RPF (Mamata announced this after quoting Lata Mangeshkar's song  Zara yaad karo qurbaani)
• Insurance facility for licensed porters
• Women's RPF wing to be formed 
• Railways to set up Rabindra Museum in Howrah, Geetanjali Museum in Bolpur  
• Bharat Tirth train to mark Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary
• Special train during Commonwealth Games
• 101 new suburban trains in Mumbai
• New suburban trains in Chennai
• New train service to Bangladesh
• No increase in freight tarriff 
• High-speed dedicated passenger corridors
• Freight reduction on foodgrains and kerosene
• Houses for railway employees of 10 years
• 10 new Duronto trains  
• 54 new trains in 2010
• New tourist trains on tourist routes
• 80000 new wagons
• New Janmabhoomi train between Ahmedabad and Udhampur
• New Karmabhoomi train for working class
• Matribhoomi special trains for women
• Service charge on AC fares to be Rs 20 instead of Rs 40
• Mobile e-ticketing facility at hospitals, courts, universities, IITs, IIMs
• Design, Development and Testing centre to be set up at Bangalore
• Railway research centre at IIT Kharagpur
• 13000 unmanned level crossings to be converted to manned level crossings

Read More