RANGIYA, April 2 – According to local lore, the name Rangiya originated from two Assamese words, ‘Ran’ and ‘Diya’, meaning ‘engage in a battle’. This was the place which was a battlefield for the Bhutias in the north, the Darraangi kingdom in the east, the Ahoms in the south and the Mughals in the west. Today, the people of this town savoured a victory in a different kind of battle. After 33 long years of protracted pleas and agitation the Rangiya Rail Division was formally dedicated to the people by Union Railways Minister Nitish Kumar at the Rangiya Railway Junction this afternoon. Present on the momentous occasion was Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
‘Better late than never’, Kumar said while acknowledging the perseverance of the people of the area. He said that the people’s struggle for the Rangiya Division has resulted in the creation of one of the bigger divisions in the country covering 827 km of track. Though the Rangiya Division became operational from yesterday itself, the formal inauguration was held today. Indian Railways (IR) has operationalised five new railway zones and eight rail divisions all over the country from yesterday. Two other new zones are already functional from some time.
‘I understand the sentiment of the people’, the Railways Minister said while adding that the Centre is determined to ensure the development of the entire North East through the expansion and improvement of railway operations. Funds will not pose a problem, he said referring to the recently created Rs 15,000 crore corpus for railway development in India. He said that the Bogibeel bridge across the Brahmaputra is part of that expansion programme ‘We will ensure its completion even if we have to get funds from other sources,’ Kumar assured.
The Minister said that work on gauge conversion on the Rangiya-Murkongselek line will be taken up. The Defence Ministry is also being consulted on this issue, he said. It may be mentioned here that the Rangiya-Murkongselek line is of strategic importance as it serves the defence establishments at Tezpur in accessing the country’s far off frontlines in the region. Kumar said that efforts will be made to restore operations on the Haiborgaon-Moirabari line. He said that the IR has decided to observe 2003-04 as the ‘Year of Consumer Satisfaction’. The Rangiya Junction will be developed as a model station and beautified.
Dwelling on the issue of recruitment of local unemployed in the Railways, Nitish Kumar said that such demands are but natural. He said that the IR will carry out a massive recruitment drive in the country filling up 20,000 Group ‘D’ posts and 3000 vacancies in the Railway Protection Force (RPF). He said that with a view to encourage local people to apply for jobs in IR, recruitment tests will be conducted in local languages also besides English and Hindi.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi described the day as a memorable one for the people of the state. He said that good communication facilities are of utmost importance to the state. Apart from asking for the conversion of the Rangiya-Murkongselek line, he also said that speedier services be introduced from Guwahati to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. Gogoi also expressed his disappointment over the non-introduction of railbus services in the state despite ‘hundreds of representations’ and some assurances from successive Railways Ministers. Nitish Kumar, speaking after the Chief Minister, said that there are some ‘technical problems’ in the introduction of railbus services.
Chairman of the Railway Board IIMS Rana said that the objective behind the operationalisation of the Rangiya Division is to bring the administration closer to the people and the consumers. Assam Minister for Commerce and Industry Bhubaneswar Kalita said that the credit for realising the dream of the Rangiya Division should go to the people of the area who never gave up their demand. Lok Sabha member Madhab Rajbongshi said that the success of the people of Rangiya is creditworthy given that it is so ‘difficult to get things from Delhi’.
The Rangiya Division is the fifth division under the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR). The then Eastern Bengal Railway (EBR) developed Rangiya as a junction while building the Golakganj-Amingaon branch line along with the Rangiya-Rangapara section in the early 1900s. The importance of Rangiya increased with the construction of the Rangapara-Murkongselek line in 1966. The work on setting up the Rangiya Division was sanctioned in 1995-96. The new division will cover all the three road-cum-rail bridges, including the Bogibeel bridge and the road bridge over the Brahmaputra near Tezpur. The new BG alignment from New Bongaigaon-Jogighopa-Kamakhya has increased the workload and given a further impetus to the setting up of this division. The Rangiya Division has 317 km BG track and 652 km MG track.