Thaindian News

Kolkata, Aug 22 (IANS) Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday inaugurated the much-awaited six-km expanded stretch of the city’s Metro railway from Tollygunge to Garia Bazar in the southern fringes, but West Bengal’s ruling Left Front (LF) cried foul as Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was not invited for the function.
“Metro railway is the pride of the city. I had announced the expansion in 1999. It’s great that I have been able to inaugurate it myself,” Banerjee said at the programme.

She also renamed the existing Tollygunge Metro station after late Bengali matinee idol Uttam Kumar, while the Garia Bazar station was renamed after noted Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The Garia Bazar-Tollygunge section has three other stations - at Kudhghat, Naktala and Bansdroni.

Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee were present along with a galaxy of representatives from the Bengali film industry such as veteran actor and Uttam Kumar’s consort Supriya Devi, actor Prasenjit, Koel Mallik, Ranjit Mallik and danseuse Amala Shankar.

Gandhi congratulated Banerjee for extending the Metro route and disclosed that he came to the function riding the Metro from Esplanade in the city’s hub.

Mukherjee said: “Mamata has done a great job by naming Tollygunge station after Uttam Kumar.”

But LF chairman Biman Bose alleged the railway minister had arranged a political programme with government funds.

“When Delhi’s Metro rail was inaugurated, Chief Minister Shila Dixit was invited. But in today’s programme, our chief minister was not even invited,” Bose pointed, adding that state Transport Minister Ranjit Kundu got an invitation just a day before the function.

“This is not the right thing. It’s an exceptional incident and politically motivated,” Bose maintained.

Kundu said he got an official facsimile Friday from the office of the Metro Railways.

“Such an incident has never happened in our state. We are also a partner to this joint venture and the state government contributed one-third of the total expenditure to this metro expansion project,” the transport minister said.

“The railways should keep the state government in confidence while inaugurating such initiatives,” he added.

With the expansion, the 22.50 km distance between Garia Bazaar (the southern-most Metro station) and Dumdum (the last station located in the city’s extreme northern fringes) would be covered in just 41 minutes.

The expansion will benefit city commuters residing in the southern fringes. Commuters will be able to avail of the Metro on the extended route from Sunday.