Fate of Rangiya rly division uncertain

NEW DELHI, March 12: The Rangiya Railway Division project appears to have been shelved into the cold storage, with the Railway Ministry now reviewing the investment planning for the project. In reply to a question tabled by Basanti Sarma, the Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee has cleared the confusion surrounding the project. "The Railways are presently facing acute resources constraint necessitating a review of the investment planning. The proposed now Division including the one at Rangiya, will gradually become operational, depending upon the result of the review and availability of investible resources for this purpose by the Railways," she replied. The Minister further added that no time limit for completion of the proposed project can be indicated in view of the complexities involved. The fate of the Rangiya Railway Division has been hanging in balance for some time now, as the Railways since the last two Budgets had stopped making any provision for the project. With the Railway Minister herself admitting that the project investments are under review, the project would now be treated as a low priority one. The issue was raised by the members in the Parliament, while several demonstrations were staged in the past in the capital demanding early completion of the Rangiya Rail Division project. Meanwhile, the Railways has also turned down a proposal to introduce a shuttle service between Tinsukia and Mariani describing it as unfeasible due to operational and resources constraints. Similar is the fate of the proposal for gauge conversion of Nagaon-Mairabari and Nagaon-Silghat railway sections. It may be mentioned here that only two gauge conversion projects were cleared in the Railway Budget this year and both of them were ongoing projects.