People find railway budget populist

The announcement in Railway Budget 2011, to introduce Pune-Ahmedabad AC Duronto train has brought smiles on the face of Gujarati community settled in the city. Sadadi Mahila Mandal trust secretary, Manjulata Mehta, said there was an urgent need for an additional train from Pune to Ahmedabad as over six lakh Gujaratis live here.

However, those hailing from Rajasthan are sore over being left out.

Prajapati Samaj Sangh president, Kaluram Prajapati, said they were expecting a new train between Pune and Jaipur.

Meanwhile, the ex-servicemen of Pune are not enthusiastic about the announcement to induct 16,000 ex-servicemen by March-end and over 1,200 into the railway police force. “They have been saying this for long. What is important is where and at what level are the ex-servicemen recruited,” said Cdr (retd) RW Pathak, who is a member and coordinator of the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) Pension Cell. Maharashtra has over 1.70 lakh ex-servicemen, including 21,975 in Pune.