Rly Min inaugurates Phoolbagan Metro Station, forgets to invite Chief Minister
Kolkata: The East-West Metro project that was conceived and sanctioned by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was the then Railway minister (2009-2011), was not invited for the virtual inauguration of Phoolbagan Metro Station by Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday.
Reacting to the development, state Urban development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said: "She (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) is woman of high caliber. Whether anyone invites her or not it doesn't matter to her."
Referring to Union Minister Babul Supriyo who was present the during the inauguration ceremony, Hakim said: "Aray Babul. Metro wouldn't have existed if Mamata Banerjee wouldn't have been there. For six years you didn't try to bring anything for Bengal. During her tenure as Railway minister Mamata Banerjee brought all these project (East-West Metro Project)."The Kolkata East-West Metro was the brainchild of Mamata Banerjee during her tenure as the Railway Minister.
Banerjee, during her tenure as the Railway Minister from 2009-2011, had sanctioned money for the project in the Railway
Budget.
The budget for the Kolkata East-West Metro project is Rs 6,500 crore. 74 per cent of the money has been sanctioned by Indian Railways and 26 per cent is being allotted from the Urban Development Ministry.
Neither Banerjee nor her ministers were invited for the inauguration ceremony.
However, Union Minister Babul Supriyo and Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development Debashree Chowdhury were invited for virtual inauguration of Phoolbagan station.
According to the Metro Railway, TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay and the two local MLAs have been requested to join the virtual event of the inauguration.
Instead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Union Railway Minister Goyal gave credit to Supriyo. "Babul Supriyo has the ability to get us at short notice that is related to West Bengal. I am very much delighted that eight months later (after inaugurating East-West Metro's first phase on February 13). At his insistence I am able to be with all of you to inaugurate the other station (Phoolbagan station)," said Goyal.
He reiterated that the full 16.55-km stretch of Kolkata's East-West Metro is likely to be completed by December 2021.
The Phoolbagan metro station, the seventh station of East West Metro, will be thrown open for public from Monday.
The Phoolbagan metro station is the East- West Metro's first underground station. East-West Metro corridor, which will connect Salt Lake Sector-V with Howrah Maidan, is 16.6 km long.
The East West Metro has 12 stations – Howrah Maidan, Howrah, Mahakaran, Esplanade, Sealdah, Phoolbagan, Salt Lake Stadium, Bengal Chemical, City Center, Central Park, Karunamoyee and Salt lake Sector V. The first phase of East-West Metro connecting the city's tech hub of Salt Lake Sector-V with the Yuva Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium) was inaugurated on February 13, 2020. Meanwhile, Kolkata Metro Railways also resumed its services in the North- South line on Sundays from October 4. Around 14,560 passengers took to it on Sunday.
