The Train of Thought

Whatever her diehard political adversaries may say about the Railway Budget for 2010-2011, the people in the Northeastern region have reason to compliment the Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for some vital projects announced in her second budget. It is on public domain that except for Assam and a few other states, most of the leaders of the North East states are not very enthusiastic about the development of the railway network in their states as they are more interested in safeguarding and strengthening roadways. However, they have to put signatures on collective memorandums presented to the Centre pleading for the improvement of connectivity in the region. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was among the Chief Ministers who had pleaded with the Central Government for the expansion of the network and had given some valuable suggestions in this regard.

Construction of the long awaited Trans-Asian Railway Network through the North East will provide a great opportunity for the integration of the nations in the region and promotion of trade and commerce .The Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh have agreed to take up the project to provide the much needed rail link between Agartala in India and Akhaura on the Bangladesh side which will connect West Bengal and the rest of the country with the North East through Bangladesh. Although no time- frame has been announced, it is expected to be operational later this year, if everything proceeds as per the schedule and the anti-India lobby does not create too much noise.

As the Regional Recruitment Boards for the Railways will set questions in state languages besides English, Hindi and Urdu, the North East people will have better chances to do well in such examinations.

Mamata Banerjee has assured the North East and other states of more projects, if they can ensure Public Private Participation (PPP). Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have taken the lead in this regard by involving the private sector in the construction of railway projects. There is no reason why the eight states in the Northeastern part of India should lag behind in attracting private capital for the development of connectivity. Meanwhile, Agartala, Dibrugarh and Dimapur have been identified as the stations where Multi Functional Complexes will be set up. For better service to the public, reservation status and punctuality of the trains will be conveyed to interested parties through SMS. Ticket Booking Centres will be opened at district headquarters and village panchayats with infrastructure support from the local governments and private organisations and there will be a lot of direct and indirect job opportunities.

On the Railways’ unused and surplus land, 400 hospitals and diagnostic centres, 50 Kendriya Vidyalalyas, 10 residential schools on the pattern of the Navodaya Vidyalaya model, degree colleges, technical and management institutions of national importance will be set up across the country in cooperation with the Union Ministries for Health and Family Welfare and the Human Resource Development (HRD). Of these, 12 Outpatients Departments (OPDs) and Diagnostic Centres will come up in the North East and will be located at Agartala, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Diphu, Itanagar, Lumding, New Bongaigaon, Rangiya, Silchar, Tezpur and Tinsukia. Secondary level General Speciality Hospitals will be set up at Guwahati and New Bongaigaon. These two cities will also be provided Tertiary Level Multi Speciality Hospitals for the general public.

Guwahati has also been identified for the setting up of a state of the art wagon manufacturing factory in a new township which will provide job opportunities to many qualified people besides creating indirect jobs for many more people.

Barpeta Road-Tihu, Chaparmukh- Dibrugarh Jogighopa-Silchar via Pabchratna rail links will be taken up as socially desirable projects to connect the backward areas. There will be surveys for constructing new lines to connect Jogigopa with Guwahati via Barpeta and North Lakhimpur –Along –Silapathar. Surveys will also be conducted for the construction of the long awaited doubling the track from Guwahati to Dibrugarh via Lumding and Tinsukia. It is hoped that the gauge conversion project on the track between Dhubri and Fakiragram will be completed this year.

A Master Plan for the development of rail infrastructure in the North East region will be drawn by the Ministry for Railways in consultation with the North East Development Council and the concerned states. Ten projects in the North East have, meanwhile, been declared National Projects. Their completion has been affected due to adverse law and order problems. Lumding –Silchar route has been put on the priority list and Byrnihat –Shillong is now among the national projects to put Meghalaya on India’s Railway map.

The North East will be directly connected with the financial capital of India by the Guwahati-Mumbai weekly train via Howrah, Howrah, Itatanagar Howrah, Itatanagar (Jamshedpur), Jharsuguda, Bilaspur and Nagpur. Besides the long distance train, New Bongaigaon will be connected with Kamakhya via Jogighopa. It is now the responsibility of the state governments and the DoNER to ensure that the connectivity projects is completed as scheduled. For this purpose, more effective coordination with the Indian Railways is necessary.

P. K. Chakravarty