'Didi' finally gets down to business

With just a week left for the presentation of the Railway budget, railway minister Mamata Banerjee finally settled down to the task in Delhi, with the entire official brigade in attendance.

The first thing on Banerjee’s agenda is to go through a copious list of new trains and stoppages demanded by various MPs and state CM. “The list has requests for over 200 trains of which barely 11-14 trains will be sanctioned, keeping in operational and political considerations,” said a source in rail bhavan.

The railway headquarters was a beehive of activity with the minister closeted with railway board members for marathon meetings.  Banerjee is expected to remain in Delhi till the budget speech is delivered.