Kolkata, June 15: A few days after taking charge as the Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee on Sunday flagged off a daily train to Digha, the Howrah-Digha Kandari Express.
Banerjee, in her election manifesto, had promised to turn Digha into another Goa, which the state government failed to do in the last 32 years.
The day she joined the office as the Railway Minister, she had announced that within a month the Howrah-Digha Express would chug out from Howrah and she fulfilled her promise 12 days before it ends.
The minister, however, expressed her displeasure with the IRCTC — a Government of India enterprise — over the prices of edibles available in Kandari Express are higher than the average citizen can afford.
“We disagree with the price chart for food. The IRCTC did not negotiate with us. These prices have to be changed in a couple of days,” said Banerjee.
Besides the Kandari Express named after a poem of rebel poet Kazi Nazrool Islam, one more train to Digha, Tamralipta Express, will also start from Howrah.
“The Tamralipta Express will depart from Howrah in the morning and will reach Digha via Tamluk. We have dedicated the train to Matangini Hazra, the rebel from Midnapore,” she said.
Banerjee also announced special trains to Ajmer and Puri. “The train will depart from Sealdah station on June 24 and June 25. Six special trains will ferry passengers from the city to Puri before and during the Rath Yatra,” said Banerjee.
—–Agencies