GUWAHATI, Feb 22 — The Railway Board ordered last week a feasibility study on the proposed extension of the railway line from Azara near the city, to Byrnihat in Meghalaya. The study is to be completed within six months and for the purpose an amount of around Rs 180 crore has been sanctioned. This was disclosed by senior NF Railway officials at a joint press conference addressed also by Sri Vipan Nanda, the new General Manager (GM) of the NF Railway and its new Additional General Manager (AGM) R Gopinathan Nair here today. Sri Nanda joined as NF Railway GM in January last, while Sri Nair only last week.
The NF Railway has also undertaken seven projects of laying new lines between Eklahi and Balurghat, New Maynaguri and Jogighopa, Kumarghat and Agartala, Harmuti and Itanagar, Dudhnoi and Depa, Diphu and Karon and the raid-cum-road Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra near Dibrugarh. The NFR is also working on a scheme to provide some amenities on the Jogighopa to Guwahati line, said Sri Nanda. He also apprised the media persons that works are also going on five gauge conversion projects between Katihar and Jogbani, New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri-New Bongai-gaon, Lumding and Dibrugarh (including the branch lines, Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam and Katakhal and Bhairabi, while works on doubling the line between Harishchandrapur and Kumarganj are also on. He, however, said that the estimates of the Rangiya railway division are pending with the Railway Board for approval.
Despite there being cases of attack on railway property and personnel in the NE region, the railway authorities have been trying their level best to render the best of their services to the region and from an earning of Rs 766.33 crore in 2000-01, the NFR is now poised to earn an amount of Rs 860.29 crore during the current fiscal year. Citing an example of the attack on NFR personnel, Sri Nanda said that a junior engineer of the NFR’s Dimapur office Sri RC Paul was abducted yesterday from his office by some miscreants and a ransom has been demanded against his release. Every two to three days some incidents of the line nature takes place, but these have not been able to demoralise the NFR people, he said. He also said that the Amarnath Express which is at present running between Gorakhpur and Jammu Tawi is being extended to Guwahati once in a week from March 8 next.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Rangiya Railway Division Sangram Parishad met Sri Nanda at his office here today and pleaded for initiatives on the part of Sri Nanda to get the Rangiya railway division proposal included in the next railway budget.