Recommendation to Railways in 9 important sectors of NE Region in Railways Budget of 2011-12

New Delhi, February 17, 2011

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region
Date: 17th February, 2011
New Delhi

Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Shri.Bijoy Krishna Handique has appealed to the Ministry of Railways for introduction of Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) trains in nine sectors of Northeast Frontier (NF) Railways in the upcoming Railway Budget for 2011-12. In a letter to Ms.Mamta Banerjee, Minister of Railways, Shri. Handique underlined the importance of the sectors in the light of boosting rail connectivity in the Region.

Shri. Handique mentioned "Despite the best efforts of the Government, the communication within North East and between various important towns of the Region is far from satisfactory. Heavy Dependency on road transport, which is not free from disruption, has not only strained the road infrastructure but also resulted in large number of road accidents resulting in loss of invaluable human lives and property. In this background, the services of DMU in NF Railways came as fresh breather at an opportune moment".

Shri. Handique appealed for the Introduction of DMU Services between the following Stations;
1. Tinsukia – Mariani – Jorhat
2. Jorhat – Dimapur – Nagaon
3. Guwahati – Goalpara
4. Goalpara – Bongaigaon – Kokrajhar
5. Lakhimpur – Tezpur
6. Tezpur - Guwahati
7. Agartala – Dharmapuri ( Tripura)
8. Silchar – Dharmapuri (Tripura)
9. Luumding – Silchar

Shri. Handique extensively pointed out the importance of each sector in order to - ensure Intra Regional Connectivity in Inter State Border Areas, maximise outreach to the agrarian communities in remote parts of the region, enhancing connectivity to tea garden belts, flood affected areas and isolated belts under Bodoland Territorial Council, increase tourist traffic to scenic areas in Barak Valley and Tripura, among others

Shri. Handique also lauded the efforts of the Ministry of Railways for its initiatives in improving the rail network in Jammu & Kashmir. He said " Indian Railways have done a great service to the people of Kashmir Valley by providing special DMU services and have earned a lot of goodwill not only for itself but for the entire country".

The Centre had last September announced an ambitious project for linking all capital cities in the Northeastern states with railway network at an estimated investment of Rs 17,000 crore by the year 2016. Shri.Handique had said the Ministry of Railways will implement the project it will be completed by 2016 provided the state governments concerned ensure early handing over of the land required for it.

The project was proposed in the Vision Document 2020, a blueprint for overall development of the region, which was released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the year 2008. The Ministry of DoNER is the Delivery Monitoring Unit for the Project of Gauge Conversion of Lumding – Silchar, Arunachal – Jiribam, Badarpur – Kumarghat from Metre Gauge Line to Broad Gauge encompassing 368.1 kms of railways with an estimated cost of 3909.49 Crores.

Mr. Geetartha Darshan Barua,
APS (Media Management)
to
Hon'ble Minister of Development of North Eastern Region,
Government of India,
New Delhi.