M’laya returns Rs 200-crore project fund to Centre
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, April 13: In a significant development that signals the quiet demise of a long-pending infrastructure dream, the Meghalaya government has returned Rs 200 crore to the Railway Ministry as the Tetelia-Byrnihat railway project failed to take off in the state.
Government sources confirmed to The Shillong Times that the amount was recently returned to the Ministry of Railways following pressure from the Centre to refund the unutilised funds.
“The money was recently returned to the bank and we don’t know if the transaction has been completed till now or not,” sources said.
The funds in question were allocated for the Tetelia-Byrnihat railway project, which has remained stalled for close to two decades. The project was conceived in 2006-07.
The proposed 21.5-km broad-gauge line was intended to connect Tetelia in Assam with Byrnihat in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya. Of this, 2.3 km of the alignment was proposed to be within Meghalaya territory.
The anticipated cost of the project was around Rs 1,532 crore (based on revised estimates). While substantial progress has been made on the Assam side—with sections like Tetelia-Kamalajari reportedly completed or nearing operation—the Meghalaya portion has seen virtually no advancement due to stiff and sustained opposition from various pressure groups, primarily over concerns of demographic influx in the absence of robust mechanisms like the Inner Line Permit (ILP).
This return of funds effectively confirms that the Tetelia-Byrnihat railway project is now dead in its current form. Despite repeated announcements, including high-profile promises by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah about improving rail connectivity to Shillong, the project has failed to move forward.
A committee set up by the state government to hold consultations with stakeholders has not convened even a single meeting till date.
Meghalaya continues to lag far behind other northeastern states in railway connectivity. While capitals like Agartala, Itanagar, and Aizawl have been linked to the rail network, Shillong remains one of the few state capitals in India without a railway line. The state currently has only 9–12 km of railway track, limited to a small section in North Garo Hills.
Plans to extend rail links to other parts of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills have also faced similar opposition from pressure groups.
As the hills of Meghalaya continue to rely on overburdened highways prone to landslides and congestion, the quiet shelving of the Tetelia-Byrnihat railway project leaves a critical connectivity gap that is unlikely to be plugged in the foreseeable future.
