Meagre allocation for Balurghat Rly project in Budget: Locals burn effigy of minister

balurghat: A group of locals accompanied by a local Hili border development forum staged a demonstration and blocked Hili-Balurghat National Highway 512 protesting over the meagre allocation of fund in the Budget 2022 for the completion of long pending Hili-Balurghat railway project on Sunday.

The protesters burnt the effigies of Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and local BJP's Balurghat Lok Sabha MP Sukanta

Majumdar for the lackadaisical attitude of the Central government for the delay of the project and for the trifle amount of fund that was sanctioned in the budget only to keep the project on.

Raising slogans against the Railway minister and the local MP, the agitators demanded immediate completion of the project which has been pending over 12 long years.

The demonstration started about 11 am and continued for about 40 minutes until the intervention of police from Hili police station and

Officer-in-Charge Ganesh Sharma in order to lift the blockade and restore normalcy.

"Modi government had ignored the sentiment of the Hili people and provided only Rs 20 cr for the project. It requires a fund of Rs 145 cr immediately for the completion of land acquisition process only and, therefore, we strongly oppose and condemn the budget," said the secretary of Hili border development forum Hili Simanta Unnayan Mancha Biman Krishna Saha who took part in the demonstration.

According to the agitators, they were forced to hit the streets following the limping progress of the project and the Centre's negative attitude that was reflected in the budget for which a small fund was allocated.

An agitator Dipankar Maitra said: "The Hili people were expecting a handsome fund from the Centre for the project in the budget but unfortunately it didn't happen. The Centre has cheated us."