ProMASS News Bureau: Feb 25, 2016:
The increase in the budget allocation to North-East Frontier Railways from about 35 thousand crore rupees to 40 thousand crore in the Union Rail Budget 2016-17 is welcomed by economists, academicians and common man of Manipur. After Manipur came into the broad gauge map of goods train in the country recently, the state is all set to join in the passenger broad gauge rail map along with Mizoram with the commissioning of the Kathakal-Bhairabi and Arunachal-Jiribam Gauge Conversion projects.
Welcoming the rail budget, noted economist of the state Dr. D S Sharma said, already broad gauge conversion upto Jiribam in Manipur has completed and even a trial run successfully conducted and commercial service is soon expected. Compared to road transport, railway will provide immense benefit to Manipur in terms of not only faster but also cheaper and all-weather means of transport. In Particular, Manipur has suffered from bandhs and blockades along the national highways and with rail transport; all these bottlenecks can be avoided. Director of Centre for Manipur Studies of the Manipur University Prof. MC Arun said, the railway budget in general shows certain innovative moves. The improvement in the Lumding Silchar sector is worth mentioning and moreover, bringing Jiribam in the broad gauge network will relieve Manipur from artificial scarcity of goods.
One Mohamed Mahin Laskar from Jiribam in Manipur where broad gauge connectivity of railways is going to materialized said, it is a much awaited dream of north-eastern states especially for the people of Manipur; today, in real sense we are connected with the rest of the nation and about the railway budget, it is our fortune that the budget is useful for the North-East. The new railway projects to better connect Manipur with the rest of the country will improve infrastructure development in the state and lead to boosting economy of the region.
