New Delhi, April 23: Member of Parliament from Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency Dr Thokchom Meinya, has underlined that all the State capitals in the North Eastern states except Dispur, capital of Assam have no rail connection.

Though it was a long pending demand to connect all State capitals by trains, it is not yet implemented in the North Eastern region.

Dr Meinya urged the Union Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav to connect the remaining seven State capitals of North East Region by rail without any delay.

Participating at the discussion on the Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Railways for the year 2008-09 on Thursday last in the Lok Sabha, the Parliamentarian from Manipur stated that the total length of railways in the North Eastern region is about 500 Kms, though the size of the entire North East is one tenth of the whole country.

He also pointed out that the British constructed half of the existing rail-lines in the North East and the Indian Government has constructed hardly 250 Km of rail-lines in the region in the last 60 years.

He emphasized the need for taking care of the region and also speedy expansion of Railways in the region.

He said, "Whenever we send a proposal for railway project to the Ministry, the normal reply we get from the Ministry is that 'the project is not economically viable.' This is not the right attitude".

He stated that Railways is not only for profit making but also for providing transportation to the disadvantaged people in the remote areas for their development and progress.

At the same time, it will also strengthen the unity and integrity of the country.

As such, Indian Railways has a very crucial role to unify the Nation, he added.

Dr Meinya mentioned that the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal rail project is a national project to be completed by 2010.He urged the Union Minister of Railways to complete the project in time.

Describing it as an important line, which is to be extended to Myanmar and further to other South East Asian countries, he said that the line would help the country to tap the rich mineral and natural resources of the entire South East Asia in due course of time.

Dr Meinya drew the attention of the Union Minister of Railways for recruiting more people from the North East Region in the Indian Railways, saying that a handful of people from the North East were employed in the Railways.

He also suggested that whenever there is railway recruitment of Group 'C' and 'D' employees, some kind of preference should be given to the local candidates or recruitment might be conducted on regional basis.

At least 50 per cent should be recruited from the Region or the Zone itself.

He hoped that if it was done, a kind of unity would come about among the people, and it would further strengthen National integration.

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