As Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually flagged off the Vande Bharat Express train connecting Bengal’s Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri Mayor and senior Trinamul Congress leader Gautam Deb took a jibe at BJP’s councillors after they requested all councillors to clap their hands for the new train.

The scene happened during the monthly board meeting of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC). At the same time, Mr Deb vented his ire at the Railways for asking Rs 3,79,461 for organising a sports event on its ground, scheduled to be held on 8 January, as part of the annual festival of his ward, when the entire budget for the programme was Rs 2.60 lakh. According to Mr Deb, there were hardly any changes between the Vande Bharat Express and the Shatabdi Express (on the New Jalpaiguri-Howrah route) except the “looks” of the former.

He said that during the brief tenures of Mamata Banerjee as the railway minister, apart from Shatabdi Express, she had initiated introduction of a slew of trains for north Bengal, including the Padatik Express, Kanchankanya Express, Uttar Banga Express, Teesta Torsha Express and a Chennai-bound train from the NJP station. “But when Nitish Kumar became the railway minister, the route of the Kanchankanya extended to Alipurduar and the same happened for Padatik Express. But in a great shock, the originating and terminal point of Darjeeling Mail, the name of which represents the region, has been extended to Haldibari from NJP, which has been one of the important railway stations in the Northeast.

It is an attempt to diminish the train’s importance. Therefore, it is insignificant to clap for only one train when a number of trains were earlier introduced within a brief period,” Mr Deb said, while replying to the councillor of ward-4, Vivek Singh. He went on to add at the same breath that the Railways allegedly claimed Rs 3,79,461 for organising the sports event on the Railway Institute Ground under ward 33.

Mr Deb was elected as a councillor from this ward. “We had discussions with the Railway authorities to allow us to hold the event and wrote a letter to the Katihar divisional railway manager. They allowed us to hold the event on this ground as the temporary land license for one day is Rs 2,79,161 and the total amount came to Rs 3,79,461 to be deposited. I would like to convey my thanks to the railways for its generosity. Can it be a policy of the government of India? It is very unfortunate. So we have shifted the event to another ground,” Mr Deb said.