Mamata Banerjee demands Railways give priority to safety of passengers

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday demanded that the railways give more attention to the safety and security of travellers and roll back the dynamic pricing of train tickets reported news agency PTIMamata Banerjee a former Railway minister alleged that train fares were sometimes higher than flight ticketsSad to find that railway passenger fares are steeply increasing and even in Suvidha trains the fares are sometimes higher than air fares Where will common people go in case of emergencies she posted on X handleFare hike must be curbed and reduced And attention must be given to safety and security issues she saidTalking on the number of rising railway accidents in the country Banerjee also questioned why the anticollusion devices and other antiaccident measures which she had introduced during her tenure as Railway Minister were not used to keep a check on mishapsDuring my tenure as Railways Minister I had introduced anticollusion devices and other antiaccident measures Why are they not being used to avert the increasing number of train accidents while antipeople fare regime continues uncheckedEarlier West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused the BJPled central government of attempting to saffronise various institutions across the country including the Indian cricket team whose practice jerseys are now saffroncoloured reported PTISpeaking at the inauguration of Jagadhatri Puja at Posta Bazar in central Kolkata Banerjee alleged that the BJP has introduced saffron colour not only in the practice jerseys of the cricket team but also in the painting of Metro stations reported PTIShe expressed her disapproval stating They are trying to paint the entire country saffron We are proud of our Indian players and I believe they will be champions in the World Cup But they BJP brought in saffron colours there as well and our boys now practice in saffroncoloured jerseys The Metro stations have been painted saffron This is unacceptableWithout explicitly naming anyone Banerjee denounced what she considered as partisan politics reported PTIThe TMC boss said I dont have problems with them erecting statues but they are trying to turn everything saffron I had once seen that Mayawati had made a statue of herself After that I hadnt heard of anything like this These theatrics cannot always lead to benefits Power comes and goesTaking a swipe at the BJP she said the country belongs to the Janata people of the nation and not to just Janata of a partyHer remark drew sharp reactions from the BJP which dubbed the allegations as a reflection of a vindictive approachWith inputs from PTI