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Amidst much gossip and expectations, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday gave final touches to ‘her’ rail budget, which will be presented in parliament on Friday.
Shifting from the claims of high surplus by her predecessor Lalu Prasad, Mamta Banerjee has maintained from the day she assumed the charge that her focus will be on improving passenger amenities and rationalisation of services such as Tatkal services.
Even though she has refused to shed any light on the nature of the budget, it is expected to be pro-people without any hike in fares, new trains, rationalising the Tatkal scheme as well as the speeding up of the freight corridor project.
She added that even though she is not against the privatisation of the railways, she mentioned that i6ts should be in favour of the people.
If the budget is overly pro-people, it is going to be a tightrope walk for Banerjee as she also has to maintain revenue growth amidst the economic recession.
