Mamata angry as Maneka terms railways as 'wildlife smuggler'

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee today took strong exception to BJP member Maneka Gandhi's remarks that the railways was "the biggest smuggler" of wildlife, saying the comment was "unfair."

Banerjee got angry when Gandhi asked during question hour in Lok Sabha what the railway ministry was doing to prevent smuggling of cattle and wildlife by trains from West Bengal to Bangladesh.

"I am sorry these comments are made by the honorable member. I respect the member. But the comment is unfair," the railway minister said.

However, she said, if the member had a specific complaint, her ministry would look into it.

On cargo handling, she said the railways had incentives for freight forwarders, benefitting traders.

She said the freight schemes were "user-friendly", and cargo was booked on the basis of a fowarding note executed by consignors.

"We want full loading of goods trains," she said, adding, "To promote rail-road integration, railways have schemes and provisions like Rail-side Warehousing Complexes developed by the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and container operators, including Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR) and incentive scheme for freight forwarders."

Various other schemes for rail-road integration are under examination, she added.