Meinya lauds Railway Budget

IMPHAL, March 11: A press statement from the Private Secretary of the Inner Manipur MP, Dr Thokchom Meinya has said that the MP while participating in the general discussion on Railway Budget, 2013-14 as presented by Union Railway Minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal, has placed on record his heartfelt congratulations to the Minister for introducing an excellent balanced Railway Budget, 2013-14.

It said that the MP has described this year’s railway budget as inclusive both in content and in quality.

In order to improve the overall quality of passenger services, the Railway Minister has started by detailing the Dilemmas & Concerns that Railways are facing today.

He has mentioned that the Railway Minister has set the right tone when he speaks of Projects of national importance and said, “Security of the nation is paramount, and our brave soldiers make immense sacrifices to safeguard our frontiers. Providing need based rail connectivity to border areas is uppermost on Railways’ agenda”, the statement said.

The MP has expressed his happiness to know that the national project of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla and other projects of strategic importance will be taken up on priority, it continued.

The MP further added that ‘The North East Region is very sensitive’. The projects in this region are in progress for providing the connectivity to state capitals of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, it continued.

Further according to the statement, “For the first time the state of Arunachal Pradesh has been brought into the rail network and Harmuti-Naharlagun line will be commissioned this year”, the MP said.

It is also informed that works on the new line railway project to connect state of Manipur are in full swing, he said.

“The ministry is also fast tracking the gauge conversion works on Lumding-Silchar and Rangia-Murkongselek. For all these, the MP has expressed his gratefulness to the Minister”, it said.

“The MP further has stated that he comes from the state, Manipur. Manipur along with other states of the Northeast and the state of J&K are categorized as Special Category States of the country. Manipur is one such state where no train has ever run. There are still some elders in the state who has never seen a train wagon forget about traveling in it”, the statement said.

“In 2004, for the first time, the UPA Government under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi sanctioned the Jiribam-Tupul (Imphal) Railways National Project. The foundation stone was laid at Jirighat by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh in 2004 in presence of the then Union Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav and a host of other leaders of the Northeast”, the statement further quoted the MP.

“This project was initially targeted to be completed by 2010, extended to 2012 then to 2014 and now to 2016. We are not very fortunate”, the MP said. The MP has urged the Union Railway Minister to adhere to the time frame and complete the project in time without further extension of time, it said.

The reason for this delay as well as the delay in the work of Lamding-Silchar gauge conversion are attributed to the adverse law and order situation in these areas, the MP said according to the statement.

The MP has urged the Union Government more particularly the Home Ministry to maintain a dedicated security each to all the National Projects sanctioned in this Region, it said.

“Lastly, the MP has informed the august House that the looks of the people of the Northeast are more akin to those in the East, Far-East and South-East Asia and are allegedly having some genuine difficulties to be identified along with their brethren in the mainland India. This being the actual position, the initiatives of the Union Railway Minister are in the right direction towards achieving the inclusive growth as has been desired in this great country”, it said.

It is very encouraging to note that in order to contribute to the national skill development programme of the Union Government, the Railway Ministry is starting to impart skills to the youth in railway related trades in 25 locations across the country including Agartala, Dimapur, Imphal and Lumding from the Northeast, it said.