No bias against Bengal, says Nitish

PATNA: Brushing aside any review of the decision to create the East Central Railway zonal office at Hajipur in Bihar in the wake of a hue and cry in West Bengal, railway minister Nitish Kumar said here on Thursday that the railway is neither discriminating nor giving any undue favour to any state.
Speaking to the Times News Network, Kumar voiced his anguish over the furore in Kolkata over the creation of the new zone in Hajipur and said that the railway will continue to invest in new railway schemes for the development of West Bengal.“Many new projects, worth crores of rupees, are in the pipeline in keeping with the aspirations of the people of West Bengal,� he said, adding that people, particularly politicians of that state, should restrain themselves from opposing the creation of the new railway zone in Bihar.
“The Hajipur zone will be fully operational from October 1 and nobody can stop its creation,� he said. Kumar said that the railway has earmarked its budget proportionately on the basis of population (15 per cent), area of the respective states (15 per cent) and the ongoing projects in the country (70 per cent). “Then why this furore in West Bengal?� he quipped and asked: “Why is Bihar being singled out when other zones have been created in other parts of the country?�
Kumar said that the railway will not go back on its decision to create new zones in the country. Creation of new zones by readjusting all the nine existing zones, except the North Frontier Railway, has been cleared by the Union cabinet and the Railway Board, he said, asserting how can anyone stop the railway from implementing its decision which is meant to rejuvenate the economy of backward states and also to remove regional imbalances created during the Congress regime.
When asked about RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav congratulating him for notifying the zonal office in Hajipur and the subsequent rumour of a new political realignment in Bihar, Kumar said that anybody will be happy over the creation of a new railway zone in Bihar.
As regards the rumour about a new political alignment in Bihar, he said that Trinamul leader Mamata Banerjee’s campaign with her party’s sworn enemy, the CPM, to oppose the creation of the zonal office in Bihar could also be seen as a political realignment there.
In reply to a question about the fresh controversy over the shifting of the zonal office from Hajipur to Patna, Kumar said this controversy is being created by a particular leader. Since the creation of the infrastructure will take time, some of the zone’s offices would start functioning temporarily in Patna, he said.