New Mainaguri-Jogighopa BG line to be shelved

DHUBRI, August 7: The proposed new broad gauge railway line from New Mainaguri (West Bengal) to Jogighopa (Assam) via Boxirhat is soon going to be shelved, according to a feasibility report proposed on the line. It is known from a letter written by AS Choudhury, DGM(G), Alipurduar to the Railway Users Advisory Committee that the proposal for the construction of the new BG line from New Mainaguri to Jogighopa at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 700 crore is now going to be shelved for two reasons - (i) unproductive nature of the line and (ii) constraints of resources. It may be recalled that the demand for the new line was first acceded to by Ram Vilas Paswan when as the Railway Minister of the United Front government he had ordered a ground survey on the project. The survey was completed and report submitted to the government in due time and in the last Railway Budget, new Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee allocated Rs 600 crore against this new line thereby indicating that the construction of the proposed line had received the green signal from the Railway Ministry. It now remains to be seen how the new BG Line Demand Committee will react to this barrier from an unexpected angle.