In poll season, Didi roots for Shining Bengal, doles out sops

If Nitish Kumar could get for Bihar new railway projects ahead of Lok Sabha polls, why blame Coal and Mines Minister Mamata Banerjee for ann...

If Nitish Kumar could get for Bihar new railway projects ahead of Lok Sabha polls, why blame Coal and Mines Minister Mamata Banerjee for announcing a package for West Bengal. After all, her Trinamool Congress has a task ahead, taking on the Left Front.

In Kolkata today, Mamata announced plans for a hospital ‘‘of the stature of AIIMS in Delhi’’ near the Eastern Bypass, a Rs 2000 crore 500-MW power plant in Bankura or Purulia, re-opening of four coal mines of ECL and a Rs 6,000 crore revival package for ECL and BCCL.

She was speaking at a meet-the-press programme, flaked by Coal secretary B K Mishra and Coal India chairman Shashi Kumar.

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When reporters asked her whether the announcements had been made with an eye on the polls, she said: ‘‘I knew you would say such things. But I have never mixed politics with development. As Railway minister, when I took up projects for the state, you said the same thing. But people are enjoying the fruits now.’’

‘‘Individuals may come and go but policy decisions are not changed. When I was Railway minister, I initiated several projects. Many of them were implemented after I quit the ministry.’’

Bengaluru family feared dead in Kurnool bus fire

Cities4 hr ago

A family of four from Andhra Pradesh, residing in Bengaluru, are suspected to be among the 20 people reported dead in a fire that gutted a Hyderabad-Bengaluru bus near Kurnool in the early hours of Friday.

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