Headlines       Vol. 1 Issue 38-39

Mar 7 - Mar 21 , 1999

Ambitious railway network connecting NE capitals The Railways Ministry has drawn up an ambitious plan to bring all the state capitals of the North-East region on the railway map of the country. At present, among the eight capitals of the region, only Guwahati, the capital of Assam, is connected with railway line with the mainland states. This has been stated by the Minister of State for Railways, Ram Naik, in reply to a question by Nripen Goswami in Parliament. According to the minister, construction of railway line from Kumarghat to Agartala, capital of Tripura and from Harmuti to Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh, has already begun. The ministry had also received all necessary clearances from the authorities concerned for construction of new line from Diphu to Karong as the first phase of the rail link to Imphal, capital of Manipur, the minister said. The gauge conversion work of the Katakhal-Bharabi line has also begun, according to the minister. This is the first phase of Sairong-Aizawl railway line. A survey for construction of railway line to Gangtok has been sanctioned. Rail links to the capital of Nagaland and Meghalaya is also being considered, Mr. Naik said. All clearances have also been received for the double laning the New Jalpaiguri-Bongaigaon railway track. The estimated cost of this project is Rs. 535.88 crore. Besides, the Railway Ministry has set a new dateline the commissioning of Jogighopa-Guwahati railway line. The new target date is December 31, 1999. The project was supposed to be completed by March this year. But due to the deteriorating law and order situation of the State, the project could not be commissioned on time. Railways Minister Nitish Kumar also made a mention of this fact in his budget speech.The Railway Ministry has refused to set any dateline for the completion of the much-awaited Rangiya Rail Division. Mr. Naik informed Parliament that work on the project could not be started as the Assam Government was yet to make a suitable land for the project. As the State Government had not handed over the land, construction of the divisional office building and staff quarters have not yet been started, Mr. Naik claimed.

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