Bhopal:
"Cancer patients can travel free in 3-tier AC and sleeper class. Their escorts will get 75% off the ticket."
When Mamata Banerjee made this announcement at Wednesday's Railway Budget presentation in Parliament, Vrindavan Sarathe choked with relief. The retired clerk from Harda has to bring his wife to Bhopal's Navodaya Hospital every 10 days - for oral cancer treatment. Each trip in the second-class sleeper costs 1,000 rupees.
Now, not only can the couple travel without worrying about money, they will also be able to consult specialists in Mumbai once a year. "This announcement has come as a huge relief to people like me," says Sarathe.
''May Mamata Didi live long," says Ram Dulare, a labourer from Chhindwara, who travels with his lung-cancer-suffering wife in the general compartment. That's going to change now. "It's painful and difficult to travel in the general compartment. Now my wife will get some relief," he says.
The Union Railways Minister's kind gesture has brought tremendous relief to many cancer patients and their families. Kudos to Mamata Didi for this one.