DIBRUGARH, April 21 ? First the good news. Railway Minister Nitish Kumar has agreed to restore the original twin BG rail tracks on the Bogibeel bridge, ?as a hearty Bihu gift?, and has also assured that the Rangiya-Murkongselek MG rail section would be converted to BG by the time the bridge is ready to handle traffic. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, attending the ?Bogibeel bridge commencement of work function asked the insurgent groups of the region to give up arms and pave the way for peace and prosperity.
At exactly five minutes past four this afternoon, the Prime Minister pressed a switch at the rostrum at the Chowkidinghee grounds here and the scene changed to the close-circuit TV screens, where all could see that labourers were unloading boulders from a dozen trucks, at the Bogibeel bridge site on the south bank of the Brahmaputra, about 17 kms from here. As the assembled 5000-strong crowd cheered, Vajpayee said. ?I have came here to announce the commencement of work on the bridge, as I have found that foundation stones are laid to be forgotten.? He then went on to ask the Railway Board Chairman, IIMS Rana, if he could complete the project in six years instead of the projected seven-year completion period. To this, the Railway Board chief replied in the affirmative, to yet another round of applause form the crowd.
The Prime Minister said in his speech that India?s neighbours, especially China and the southeast Asian countries are making rapid economic advances and that India cannot afford to leg behind. ?In this age of science and technology, new vistas are opening up every day. Let us take advantage of the situation and prepare ourselves for the challenges ahead,? he implored. Speaking on the Gujarat situation, Vajpayee said that it has become a national challenge and that those who are guilty of committing social crimes would never be allowed to go scot-free. He reiterated the Centre?s commitment to the equitable development of the entire country, and that in the case of the North-east, the Centre is ?more than liberal.? He assured the Assam Chief Minister that the Vajpayee Government treats all State governments at par, irrespective of whether a particular State is ruled by the BJP or some other political party. ?Ours is a multi-party parliamentary democracy,? he added.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by several of his Cabinet colleagues at the Bogibeel function here today. Apart from the Railway Minister, those present included the Minister of State for Railways Digvijay Singh, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, Major Gen B C Khanduri, Minister of State for Water Resources Bijoya Chakraborty, while Assam was represented on the rostrum by Governor Lt. Gen S K Sinha and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. Another member of the Union Cabinet, Minister for disinvestment and North-east Development, Arun Shourie too spoke on the occasion, where he reiterated that the Centre is ?not neglecting Assam and the North-east.? He said that in the last five years, the Centre gave Assam Rs 48,000 crore for development work. Hinting that these funds have been mostly misused, he called upon the public to maintain a strict vigil on the spending of development grants. He claimed that after the BJP-led coalition came to power at the Centre, Central investments in the North-east ?has gone up three times.?
Speaking on the occasion, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi thanked the Prime Minister for acceding to a long-felt need of the people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by coming to Dibrugarh and flagging off the actual bridge building process. He sought 90:10 financing pattern from the Centre to help the State tide over the current acute financial crisis. He informed the Prime Minister that treasuries in Assam have to remain off-business 175 days a year due to RBI overdraft limits being crossed each time some transactions are executed. Gogoi said he appreciates the Centre?s concern for Assam, but wanted New Delhi to actually come forward with a helping hand. He also urged the Prime Minister to initiate a peace process in Assam, on the lines of Nagaland.
Governor Sinha, who spoke very briefly, hoped that the Centre would now consider the fifth bridge over the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, to handle the chaotic traffic over the Saraighat bridge. Prior to coming to the Chowkidinghee grounds, the Prime Minister and his entourage was received at the Mohanbari Airport by Governor Sinha and Chief Minister Gogoi. The Prime Minister also attended a BJP workers? meeting here this afternoon, where he said that the party members would have to work harder to make the party a viable alternative in Assam.