ProMASS News
Agartala, July 10, 2019: Newly elected Tripura MP Pratima Bhowmik, while speaking at Parliament, raised railway connectivity issues in the North East, especially Tripura. She also sought to know about status of undergoing railway projects in the Northeast region. She focused on the issue of electrification of rail routes in the region.
After the Parliamentary session, Pratima Bhowmik met Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and handed two separate letters seeking establishment of separate Railway Recruitment Board and office of inspector General of Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Tripura. The Railway Minister assured her with all possible help from the part of Railway Ministry.
In her questions in the House, she wanted to know about factors causing delay in completion of projects running under railways and invited advises from Piyush Goyal to solve those.
Replying to Bhowmik, the Railway Minister informed the house that there were altogether 20 railway projects in progress including 14 new lines and 6 doubling projects in the North Eastern region. Total length of the projects was 1,783 Km in which cost was pegged at Rs 68,401 Crore and already Rs 17,685 crore had been spent. The total length of the railways that was commissioned till March 2019, was calculated to be 353 Km. Moreover, some new projects were also included in the budget which was subject requisite government approval, according to the written statement of Railway Minister.
On electrification, the Railway Minister informed the House that though there was no electrified Railway route in the North East yet, regular meetings were being held with officials of state governments and concerned authorities to resolve the pending issues. The target had been already set to complete electrification of railway lines in North Eastern Regions within 20-21.
The Railway Minister also suggested the state governments to act in a time-bound manner and expedite the process of land acquisition and other relative factors.
Meanwhile, in a press statement, BJP state committee hailed the approach of Pratima Bhowmik and stated that due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s positive vision, state’s rail connectivity was improved manifold.
