SHILLONG, April 28: Shillong is likely to be off the Centre’s plan to connect all the state capitals of the Northeast with New Delhi by 2024.
Transport Minister Dasakhiatbha Lamare refused to comment on issues related to bringing railways to the state capital.
“We will have to discuss the problems before I can say anything,” he said on Thursday.
A Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) official said the work of putting all the state capitals in the northeast, barring Shillong, on the railway grid is going on in full swing.
“The projects to connect Kohima, Aizawl, Imphal and Gangtok with railways are progressing well and we are hopeful that these capitals would be on the railway map by next year or 2024,” he said.
The NFR official admitted that they have been unable to make any inroads in Meghalaya due to the opposition to the project. “Forget Shillong, we have not even been able to take the railway line to Byrnihat, a little beyond the Assam border,” he said.
Pressure groups in Meghalaya are opposing the railway project as they believe passenger trains will bring outsiders into the state on a large scale.
Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) president, Lambokstar Marngar said: “Our stand against the railways is unchanged.”
He said the union will discuss the railways after the government implements the inner-line permit system.
The National People’s Party-led MDA government has allegedly shown scant interest in reviving the railway project that has been in cold storage for the last four years.
Members of the KSU had halted the construction of the Tetelia-Byrnihat railway line in 2017. Discussions with the union on a couple of occasions failed to break the ice.
The Assam part of the 20.5-km railway project connecting has almost been completed.
The project linking Tetelia in Assam and Byrnihat in Ri-Bhoi district is estimated at Rs 496 crore. The total length of the track in Meghalaya is 2.5 km.
