TMC leaders boycott event as Irani inaugurates Sealdah Metro station

“We decided to boycott the programme as the Indian Railways have insulted our chief minister. Everybody knows how much work she had done to ensure seamless passenger services during her tenure as the railway minister,” said TMC’s North Kolkata MP Sudip Bandopadhyay.

The Metro Railway Kolkata, which is a part of the Indian Railways, last night said they sent the invitations to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), local MP Bandyopadhyay and local TMC MLA Paresh Pal.

The TMC claimed that the Railways scheduled the inauguration on Monday, knowing fully well that the chief minister would not be in the city as she was on a three-day tour of north Bengal.

“The invitation was sent to her office at the last minute and under public pressure. This is a big insult to the chief minister. We have decided to boycott the event,” said TMC MLA Paresh Pal.

The BJP slammed the TMC leaders for boycotting the event. “During the Left Front government, Mamata Banerjee, as the railway minister, did not invite the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to official functions on several occasions. They should refrain from talking about showing courtesy. When TMC leaders are indeed invited for the event, they are making an issue out of it,” senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.

Inaugurating the Metro station, virtually from Howrah Maidan, Irani said: “Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can start a new era in West Bengal. Thanks to his efforts, about 35,000 passengers daily will benefit from this 2.33-km extension up to Sealdah.”

The Union Minister for Women and Child Development said that now she could visit her maternal grandparents in Salt Lake by taking a Metro ride. “I am from Bengal. I belong to the Bagchi family. This Metro runs through Salt Lake where my maternal grandfather stays. Today, I am so happy that now there is a metro route to my grandparents house,” she said.

Commercial services will, however, begin on Thursday. The fare from Sealdah station to Sector V in Salt Lake will now cost Rs 20.

The metro station will link suburban train services at Sealdah, one of the busiest terminal railway stations in the country, providing connectivity to passengers travelling to Salt Lake and the IT hub of Sector V.

The metro authorities are hoping that the extension of services up to Sealdah will significantly increase the number of passengers in the partially operational East-West metro corridor.

When fully operational, the East-West Metro Corridor will connect Howrah to Salt Lake via Kolkata. A part of the line has been built under the riverbed of Hooghly, making it the first underwater Metro in the country.

The foundation stone for the corridor was laid in February 2009 by then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in presence of the then Union minister Pranab Mukherjee. Kolkata boasts of the country’s first Metro rail system — the North-South Line, which at present operates from Dumdum to Kavi Subhas.