Full text of railway minister's 2012-13 budget speech

Budget 2012-2013 Speech of Dinesh Trivedi Minister of Railways March 14, 2012 Madam Speaker,

1. "I rise to present the Railway Budget for 2012-13.
   
   
2. "I consider it a great privilege for me to head the strong and vibrant railway family and present my maiden Railway Budget which is also the first year of the 12th Five Year Plan. I am grateful to the Hon'ble Prime Minister for his inspiring guidance and support in formulating the Budget.
   
   
3. "I am also grateful to the Hon'ble Finance Minister and the UPA Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi for their support. It would not have been possible for me to present this budget had I not received the support and confidence of my party, All India Trinamool Congress, and its chairperson, Mamata Banerjee, to whom I shall always remain grateful.
   
   
4. "Madam Speaker, when I look at the list of illustrious leaders of this country who had donned the mantle of Indian Railways right from Sh. Asaf Ali to Sh. Lal Bahadur Shastri, to Sh. Jagjivan Ram ji, to Sh. Gulzari Lal Nanda, Sh. Kamalapati Tripathi, Sh. Madhu Dandavate to Mamata Banerjee, I find myself nowhere near their stature. But I have certainly tried to take lessons from the pages of history and from their contribution to this great institution.

"I am grateful to Mamata Banerjee for giving vision to railways in her Vision 2020 document, which has guided me immensely in framing the roadmap for carrying forward the task.

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