NFR slams govt silence on Byrnihat railway project

SHILLONG, Oct 6: With the pressure groups holding their ground, the Meghalaya government seems to have given up on the idea of constructing railway projects even till Byrnihat, let alone Shillong.
Sources from the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) lamented the lack of response from the Meghalaya government on the Tetelia-Byrnihat railway project.
Stating that the work along the Assam stretch has been almost completed, the sources said if the NFR cannot implement the project in Meghalaya, it might abandon the project in the Assam sector.
The NPP-led MDA government has apparently put the entire railway project in Meghalaya in the cold storage. Over the last three years, it has not taken any measures to revive the pending projects.
The Tetelia-Byrnihat project has remained stalled since 2017 in the wake of protests by the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU). Since then, the government has neither taken any steps to hold talks with the pressure groups or re-start the project.
The cost of the 20.5 km railway line linking Tetelia in Assam with Byrnihat in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya is estimated at around Rs 496 crore. The length of the track in Meghalaya is only 2.5 km.
The KSU wants the state government to put in place an effective mechanism, such as the Inner Line Permit, before introducing railways in the state.
It was learnt that the NFR had approached the Meghalaya government multiple times with a request to start the construction work but it is not showing any interest. The Ministry of Railways also pressured the state government to make its position clear on the project.
Given the opposition from the pressure groups, the state government thought of connecting the coal-rich Jaintia Hills with railways. Although there were talks that it would hold consultations with the stakeholders, no such engagement was visible on the ground.