The entrance to the park built during Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s tenure. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, May 24: Expectations are running high in Malda with Mamata Banerjee taking charge of Rail Bhavan.

From newly elected Congress MP Mausam Noor to the merchant chamber of commerce — everybody has drawn up a list of demands for Mamata, especially since the Trinamul Congress chief is known to have shared a rapport with A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury.

Mausam, Ghani Khan’s niece, will demand a Rajdhani from “Mamatadi”, a pair of superfast trains between Calcutta and Siliguri via Malda, besides introduction of electric trains in the division. “I am very happy that Mamatadi has become the railway minister. The neglected Malda division will definitely get a better deal. We want a Rajdhani and a pair of superfast trains, connecting Siliguri to Calcutta via Malda. We also want electric trains,” she said. In Malda division, trains run on diesel.

The secretary of the district chamber of commerce, Jayanta Kundu, said: “We can at least stall the move to split the Malda division of the Eastern Railway.” Kundu was also in favour of a Rajdhani. He said there had been an improvement in train services in this sector when Ghani Khan Chowdhury was the railway minister. “No other minister has ever given any serious thought to the development of Malda and north Bengal after that.”

In 2004, Ghani Khan Chowdhury had himself led a movement to stall the withdrawal of Gour Express, which runs between Malda and Calcutta. “Mamata Banerjee in her short tenure as the railway minister had earlier tried to upgrade this division. But after her stint, Malda again came to be neglected,” Kundu said.

The Congress chairman of the Englishbazar Municipality, Narendranath Tewari, said his party would write to the railway minister against the splitting of the division.

Babla Sarkar, the district president of Trinamul and the vice-chairman of the municipality, said a list of demands awaited the new minister.

On the wish-list was the renovation of a park built by Ghani Khan Chowdhury adjacent to the Malda Town station. The park has turned into a den for criminals, he alleged.