Guwahati to be world class station Kalyan Barooah NEW DELHI, July 3 Seeking to give a direction for completion of incomplete railway projects in the North-East, Railway Mminister, Mamata Banerjee today announced that a proposal for creation of North East Rail Development Fund was under consideration for completion of national projects in the Region. Mamata Banerjees first rail budget was marked different from her previous budgets. She had taken up railway ministership during the NDA regime, in that she has made some efforts to improve train connections, complete incomplete projects and introduce new trains. In 2000, as Railway Minister her budget had precious little for the North-east.
Guwahati is among 50 train stations identified for development as world class stations. Besides, Silchar was among 49 stations selected for construction of multi-functional complexes.
Among the new train services proposed to be introduced include weekly Kamakhya Puri Express, Dibrugarh Town- Chandigarh Express and New Delhi Guwahati Rajdhani Express via Muzaffarpur. In addition, new daily train services between Guwahati-Cooch Behar and Dharmanagar Agartala Fast Passenger are proposed to be introduced.
Ranchi Alipurduar bi-weekly train service is proposed to be extended to Guwahati. The frequency of 2423-2424 New Delhi- Guwahati Rajdhani Express is being increased from five days to six days.
Mamata Banerjee also made efforts to secure additional funds to the tune of Rs 1,949 crore from Ministry of Finance for completion of National Projects including Bogibeel-rail-cum-road bridge, Rangia-Murkongselek gauge conversion projects, Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam andJiribam-Imphal-Dimapur-Kohima-Azra-Byrnihat, Kumarghat-Agartala-Bhairabi-Sairong, Agartala- Sabrum and Sivok-Rongpo new line.
Mentioning that North-East was a sensitive region, the Railway Minister said that projects were in progress for providing connectivity to State capitals of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.
A gauge conversion project proposed to be taken up, include Fakiragram-Dhubri section of the N F Railway. It is among 17 such new gauge conversion projects proposed to be taken up.
In recognition of this, 10 rail projects in this region have been declared as National Projects, including projects like Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge and gauge conversion of Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam, Rangia-Murkongselek, she said.
The construction of national project is Sikkim from Sivok to Rangpo is proposed to be entrusted to IRCON for time-bound completion. The survey for new lines connecting Gangtok and Shillong have been completed and proposals would be further processes for necessary clearances, Mamata Banerjee said.
A proposal for creation of North East Region Rail Development Fund has already been initiated to ensure necessary funds for timely completion of national projects in the region, the Minister said.
Mamata Banerjee also had a word for the Lumding-Silchar Gauge conversion project currently held up because of rise in militancy in North Cachar Hill district. The work on the project is getting adversely affected due to law and order conditions in the area. The matter has been taken up with the concerned authorities for providing necessary security so that the work could progress smoothly, she said.
I am going to entrust responsibility for monitoring all national projects to a senior officer so that there is strict adherence to time schedules for completion, the Railway minister announced.
Meanwhile, reacting to the Budget leader of the AGPs Parliamentary group, Biren Baishya regretted that no new direct non-stop trains has been proposed in the Budget. Banerjee proposed to introduce a set 12 new direct non-stop trains countrywide.
Baishya said that sources of the fund proposed to be used for completion of the National Projects have not been mentioned in the Budget. He however, welcomed the proposal to introduce new recruitment policy, describing it as good news.
Giving his reactions, State BJP president, Ramen Deka said that though a proposal has been made to create rail development fund, there was no direction to it.
He further added that no time-frame was mentioned for completion of mega projects like the Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion project and Bogibeel-rail-cum-road Bridge.
