2 July : Amid expectations of improvement in railway amenities and food served in trains, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee would present a "pro-people" budget in Parliament on Friday.
"It will be a pro-people budget, a simple budget, people’s budget," Banerjee said.According to sources close to her, the budget in a way would reflect Mamata’s vision for the Railways in the coming years and means of generating resources for key projects.
High on her agenda would be completion of Kashmir rail link project and putting the dedicated freight corridor project on fast track.
As she has gone on record saying that Railways should always have a humane side to it, she is expected to carry out some revision in passenger fares and waive off superfast charges that has come in for flak.
She might also announce changes in the Tatkal scheme to make it more passenger friendly.
The sources said Mamata would be constrained to avoid a deficit budget especially when the burden of the Sixth Pay Commission has to be fulfilled for which Railways have to fork out Rs 14,000 crore for implementing it.