West Bengal stands to gain from the budget proposals for the financial year 2026-27, with plans for a dedicated freight corridor and a high-speed railway corridor unveiled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The budget speech highlighted the construction of seven high-speed rail corridors nationwide, one of which will link West Bengal. Specifically, this corridor will connect Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Siliguri in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
Among the seven high-speed rail corridors announced are Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi, and Varanasi-Siliguri. These corridors aim to link major economic hubs, Information Technology hubs, infrastructure clusters, and developing cities across the country. Additionally, a dedicated freight corridor will link Dankuni in West Bengal’s Hooghly district with Surat in Gujarat, the former Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed disappointment, stating that the dedicated freight corridor proposal was not new and had been previously suggested during her tenure as railways minister in 2009. She criticized the budget, claiming it lacked provisions for the state and accused the BJP of neglecting West Bengal due to the upcoming Assembly elections. Trinamool Congress’ Abhishek Banerjee also criticized the Union finance minister for overlooking West Bengal in the budget speech, emphasizing the absence of mentions regarding the state, youth, farmers, or employment.
