AFTER its relative success in the parliamentary elections, the Narendra Modi government has laid special stress on the Northeastern region. The Rail budget announced seven new trains for the Northeastern states and earmarked Rs. 5116 crore, 54% more than last year, to speed up the execution of several projects in the strategically sensitive region. There are 23 railway projects underway in the Northeast. Eleven of them are national projects which are funded by the general exchequer. Union Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda said that with higher allocations and close monitoring work, the new lines will soon get commissioned. These lines will to some extent overcome one serious problem of the seven states-lack of connectivity.
But the poverty-stricken people of the Northeast will no doubt feel the pinch caused by the hike in passenger fare and freight announced by Gowda some time back. Freight rates will move with fuel costs and the situation in Iraq augurs ill. The hike in freight rates will push up prices of essential commodities, especially agricultural produce. The urban middle class will be hit hard. Massive investments are needed to lay better tracks and modernize signaling to run freight trains more efficiently and make train travel safer. Railway accidents have occurred a number of times in the Northeast. One of the reasons is unmanned level crossings. It will need more concern than capital to remove this flaw in the railway system in the region. Since the ABSU ceased its agitation, there has been hardly any militant attack on trains and railway property. Safety comes first but the common man may be more harassed by the spiraling price of vegetables.
