Assam chief minister SarbanandaSonowal who was in New Delhi on Thursday met union minister of railways Piyush Goyal at latter’s office in Parliament House and sought his intervention for early clearance of three projects – Bongaigaon-Kamakhya via Rangia doubling project, Saraighat Bridge Doubling Project and Tezpur-Silghat New Line Project.
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Seeking the union minister’s attention, Sonowal said that though the projects have been included in the Pink Book of Railway Ministry, they need expeditious clearance from the competent authority.
Chief minister Sonowal also said that a new survey is being conducted for a new railway line from Rangiya to Dekargaon covering Darrang district, as he requested the Union Minister for completion of the survey and accord sanction to the project at the earliest.
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The chief minister also drew the attention of Piyush Goyal to approve the survey for a new railway line connecting the places of religious importance namely GorokhiaGuhai Than at Sorbhog to Amingaon via BarpetaSattra, BohariSattra, Sarthebari Na’Sattra and HajoPua Mecca.
Sonowal also sought the intervention of the Railway Minister for making the racks available for transporting potato, onion and other essential commodities to Assam and other North Eastern States.
Sonowal also requested the union minister to instruct the competent authority of Railway Ministry to complete the ongoing survey for a new line connecting Gogamukh- Kamalabari- Garmur and Jorhat so that the railway project can be started soon.
In what might prove as a boon to the student community, chief minister Sonowal requested the railway minister to introduce a system of concessional fare for the students of Assam and the Northeast to travel to Delhi and other metros for pursuing higher studies.
He also requested the union minister for introducing super-fast trains with limited stoppages outside Assam from Dibrugarh, Guwahati and Silchar to Mumbai, Pune in the West, Vellore, Chennai, Bangalore, Trivandrum and Kochi in the South, Amritsar and Jammu in the North.
Chief minister Sonowal also apprised the union minister of Northeast’s backwardness in terms of industry and other infrastructure and his intervention to make an exclusive reservation of Grade III and IV jobs of railways for the youth of the region considering the lack of avenues of employment in the region.
He also requested the Union Minister for reorganizing the jurisdiction of North East Frontier Railway to incorporate states of the Northeast exclusively in its ambit to bring more focus on the development of Railways in the region.
Piyush Goyal assured chief minister Sonowalthat his ministry would do the needful for increasing the concentration of Railways in Assam including clearing the projects in the State.
He also said that as per Railway’s expansion plan his Ministry is making all the stations as Wi-Fi zone and considerable sanctions have been made to beautify them.
Union Minister of State for Food Processing RameswarTeli and the MPs from the ruling BJP of the State were present during the meeting.