New Delhi, Feb 5: The Northeastern Frontier Railways (NFR) has received a high allocation of Rs. 8,060 crore in the recently placed Union Budget, more than half of which is meant for new railway lines including the Tetelia-Byrnihat project.
The Tetelia-Byrnihat project, which has been long overdue, has been allocated Rs 101 crore, an official announcement said today. The Sivok-Rangpo project (between West Bengal and Sikkim) has been allocated Rs 1100 crore while the Agartala-Akhaura project has been allocated Rs 300 crore.
The Jiribam-Imphal project and the Bairabi-Sairang project have been allocated Rs 1000 crore each while Dimapur-Zubza project has been allocated Rs 800 crore, the announcement said.
Out of the total allocation, Rs 4,330 crore has been allocated for construction of new lines and doubling works; Rs 3,470 crore has been allocated for safety and capacity enhancement works and Rs 166 crore for improvement of passenger amenities. The gross budgetary allocation for 2021-22 financial year is 238% more than the average yearly allocation during the period from 2009-14 (Rs 3383 crore per year).
This year’s budgetary allocation also includes Rs 650 crore for doubling of the New Bongaigaon-Agthori (via Rangiya) and Rs 610 crore for the New Bongaigaon- Goalpara- Guwahati section. Similarly Digaru – Hojai doubling work has been allocated Rs 100 crore while Rs 110 crore has been allocated for New Mainaguri – Gumanihat doubling work, the announcement said.
This year’s budget has put the thrust mainly on infrastructure development, speed augmentation of trains, development of terminal facilities, improvement of amenities for passengers and other users, construction of road over bridges/ road under bridges for the safety of road users and modernisation of the signalling system for enhancement of safety and speed.
Railways have given emphasis to become future ready to meet the demand and aspirations of common people for economic development. NFR is already undertaking rail connectivity work in all the eight states of the NE region. Doubling of railway lines in identified high density network sections are undertaken for faster connectivity. Automatic signalling system will be provided in the high density network sections, the announcement said.
Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is also planned to be implemented in high density network and highly utilised network routes. NFR is also taking measures to optimise logistic services to boost economic growth in the region.
Focus is also on international connectivity particularly with Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar as per Act East Policy of the central government which will prove to be beneficial for large-scale economic development of the entire region, it added.