Site for DMU coach factory will be decided soon: Mamata

Kolkata, Jan 15 (PTI) The site for a new DMU coachfactory, which was to come up at Sankrail in Howrah district,but faced land acquisition hurdles, will be finalised soon,Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said today.

The Railways has selected three sites and I am lookinginto them, Banerjee said while laying foundation stone for theextension of Metro railway upto Barasat in North 24-Parganasdistrict.

The shifting of the site was decided upon as a sectionof land-owners demanded job for a person each from a familyand compensation according to market rate.

Banerjee said that a sum of nearly Rs 11,000 crore hadbeen set aside for the extension of Metro railway from Dum Dumto Barasat, from Barrackpore to Bongaon and from Dum Dumairport to New Garia via Rajarhat.

"Metro Railway was previosuly a project under theNorth-East Frontier Railway and since it was facing difficultyto do much work being part of a railway project, it was turnedinto an independent zone," she said.

She dismissed the CPI-M claim that the metro wasfunctioning without proper infrastructure, saying, "I amdoing all this to improve the infrastructure of the MetroRailway only."

She said eight more trains had been sanctioned and tohandle the pressure of passengers new gates and ticketingsystem would be introduced.

Speaking on various development projects taken up bythe railways, Banerjee said that an MoU had been signed withthe HRD Ministry, under which schools and colleges would beopened at various places apart from a polytechnic, first ofits kind, at Machlandapur.

Two hospitals would be built at Barasat and Panglachandiunder PPP model and work for a dedicated freight corridor uptoLudhiana in Punjab had already started, the minister said.Site for DMU coach factory will be decided soon:Mamata

Kolkata, Jan 15 (PTI) The site for a new DMU coachfactory, which was to come up at Sankrail in Howrah district,but faced land acquisition hurdles, will be finalised soon,Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said today.

The Railways has selected three sites and I am lookinginto them, Banerjee said while laying foundation stone for theextension of Metro railway upto Barasat in North 24-Parganasdistrict.

The shifting of the site was decided upon as a sectionof land-owners demanded job for a person each from a familyand compensation according to market rate.

Banerjee said that a sum of nearly Rs 11,000 crore hadbeen set aside for the extension of Metro railway from Dum Dumto Barasat, from Barrackpore to Bongaon and from Dum Dumairport to New Garia via Rajarhat.

"Metro Railway was previously a project under theNorth-East Frontier Railway and since it was facing difficultyto do much work being part of a railway project, it was turnedinto an independent zone," she said.

She dismissed the CPI-M claim that the metro wasfunctioning without proper infrastructure, saying, "I amdoing all this to improve the infrastructure of the MetroRailway only."

She said eight more trains had been sanctioned and tohandle the pressure of passengers new gates and ticketingsystem would be introduced.

Speaking on various development projects taken up bythe railways, Banerjee said that an MoU had been signed withthe HRD Ministry, under which schools and colleges would beopened at various places apart from a polytechnic, first ofits kind, at Machlandapur.

Two hospitals would be built at Barasat and Panglachandiunder PPP model and work for a dedicated freight corridor uptoLudhiana in Punjab had already started, the minister said.