The Central government has announced a major logistics project for poll-bound West Bengal. Presenting the Union Budget for 2026-27 on Sunday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a dedicated freight corridor connecting West Bengal's Dankuni to Gujarat's Surat.

The proposed new corridor will establish a direct link between the two states, from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea.

The dedicated freight corridor is significant as Bengal is slated to go to the polls later this year.

Traversing through multiple states, the corridor will boost the industrial zone in the state by improving logistical connectivity to wealthier industrial hubs in north and central India.

Sitharaman also proposed to operationalise 20 new national waterways over the next five years. It will promote cargo movement, thereby bolstering sea trade in the state.

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Apart from the freight corridor, Bengal will also get a high-speed corridor. The corridor will connect UP's Varanasi to Bengal's Siliguri.

Apart from the Varanasi-Siliguri high-speed corridor, six other similar corridors have been announced between Mumbai and Pune, Hyderabad and Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, Chennai and Bengaluru, and Delhi and Varanasi.

In West Bengal, the Centre has also proposed to create tourism destinations. Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh will also be included in the initiative. As part of the initiative, the Centre will make provisions for 4,000 e-buses.

Announcements for other poll-bound states

Announcements have also been made for other poll-bound states. The Centre has announced to support Kerala and Tamil Nadu, along with Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, under the rare earth permanent magnets scheme announced in November 2025.

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Kerala and Tamil Nadu are expected to go to the polls in April. Turtle trails in Kerala, along with Odisha and Karnataka, and clinical trial sites in Chennai, along with 99 other sites, have also been announced in the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2026-27.