Thursday, December 30 2004 15:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Balurghat (WB): Railway Minister Laloo Prasad today (Dec 30, 2004) said Indian Railways would carry all relief provisions for tsunami victims free of cost.

Railway employees across the country would donate their one-day's salary amounting to Rs 15 crore as contribution to Prime Minister's Relief Fund, he said flagging off the first train on the long-awaited 86.89 km Balurghat-Eklakhi railway link in Balurghat. The rail link, first initiated in 1983 by the then Railway Minister A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury, will help the people of the border district of Dakshin Dinajpur who had so long no rail connectivity.

The project had been delayed for years for lack of funds and Mamata Banerjee as Railway Minister had revived it with an allotment of Rs 50 crore.

Yadav, who was accompanied by Union Water Resources Minister P R Dasmunshi and Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Congress MP of Malda, said railways would be extended to all remote districts of the country.

Dakshin Dinajpur district, which had so long been the only one in West Bengal without a railway link, had found now its place in the railway map of the country.

He also laid the foundation of the proposed Balurghat-Hili 26 km railway track and also assured the introduction of two pairs of trains between Balurghat and New Jalpaiguri as urged by his cabinet colleague Dasmunshi.

Yadav claimed he had during his tenure successfully contained corruption in the railways and had saved over Rs 700 crore.