Sarkar demands infrastructure dev in NE

Major Events Vol. 3 Issue No. 35

September 16-30, 2007

Sarkar demands infrastructure development in NE

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has called for building infrastructure in the North-Eastern states for overall development of the region.

“We may have political differences with different governments in the North East but we should fight together for building of infrastructure for overall development of the region,” Sarkar said while inaugurating a seminar on on ‘North East India – A gateway to South-East Asia’.

The region is backward and land locked but it is exposed to the South East Asian countries and if the connectivity can be improved between the region and those countries, the North East would be benefited, he said.

He said, for effective implementation of Look East policy Central Government should improve good neighbourly relations with the neighbours in the region. The development should not be only for making commercial benefits but also for improving the standard of lives of the people.

The Chief Minister said, even after 60 years of independence, there was no rail link with the State capitals of the region except Guwahati.

He said, the Chittagong port in Bangladesh is just 74 km away from Sabroom, an Indian border town in South Tripura district and “we have long been demanding our access to this port”. If rail-lines could be extended up to Sabroom, the entire region would be benefited, he said.

All the district headquarters of the eight States should also be well connected with National Highways.

Lalit Man Singh, former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to USA, said: “We should rediscover the silk routes which connected the entire South East Asia with ancient India”.

On the other hand, Tripura Tourism Minister Anil Sarkar emphasized on overall development of all sorts of tourism. He advised to harness the great potentialities of NE India with special reference to develop a Buddhist circuit to attract the tourists from southeast and Far East Asia.
S. Biswas, Executive Director, Airport Authority of India (AAI), mentioned the possibilities of connectivity among regional seaports of the neighbouring countries to have easy access to NE India through road and rail connectivity since none of the NE states are having the facilities of sea ports.

Making a strong point for connectivity between Haldia in West Bengal and Chittagong port in Bangladesh, he said location of Chittagong port is strategic for Tripura to get connected to road and railway through Sabroom, Southern most Subdivision of Tripura.

He said air connectivity has also improved in the NE region over the past few years. Biswas stressed on the recent improvement in the air link facilities of all the NE capitals with Delhi and Kolkata. He further stressed on inter north-east state capital connectivity by different airlines. In this context he also pointed out the regional air link policy being framed by the central govt.

Experts enlightened the audiences with the enormous scope of tourism development in the North-East with special reference to eco tourism and pointed the necessity of tourism policy for the region.

At the same time, they pointed out the necessity of infrastructural development. Publicity drives of inter-action between the tourist and local people for overall development of the tourist sector should be more frequent. In this context, they also referred to the rich cultural heritage of the NE India and their time-tested hospitality to the guests

RK Dey Chowdhury, Secretary of Transport Department talked about the possible link between Myanmar and Bangladesh through Chittagong port which may also be access through railway and road connectivity via Sabroom.

In power sector, the present installed capacity of NE states is only 1167 MW and there is shortage of 20% MW power. By the 11th plan period, the installed capacity will be enhanced to 2500 MW but that would not be sufficient. To meet the future target, all the ongoing power projects in the region should be complete or else the region would severe power crisis, they warned.

The central government should liberate the financial assistance for the NE states and intensify exploration of resources by stepping up the activities of the central agencies, they added.

Altogether 78 people were killed in 251 militancy-related incidents from 2005 to April 2007 while over 100 civilians were kidnapped during the period in insurgency-battered Tripura.

Of the kidnapped persons, 82 persons returned home as they were released by abductors. In response to a question jointly moved by opposition legislators including Leader of the Opposition, Ratan Lal Nath, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar informed in the Assembly that as many as 115 extremist-related incidents were reported in 2005 in which 41 civilians were killed and 62 persons abducted by militants. Of the kidnapped persons, 44 returned from militant captivity during the period.

However, insurgency has declined in 2006 due to sustained pressure from the security forces. The Chief Minister said altogether 102 incidents were reported to police in which 27 people were killed. Of the abducted persons (43), 35 returned so far.

Militancy has drastically reduced in the State this year till April. He said only ten people were killed and five villagers kidnapped by underground outfits.

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