The Centre has declared as many as 19 new waterways in Northeast as National Waterways (NWs).
Disclosing this in the Parliament, Union DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said that 11 in Assam, 5 in Meghalaya, and 1 each in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland have been declared as National Waterways. Moreover, 100 per cent subsidy is being provided by the Ministry of Shipping under the Central Sector Scheme for development of IWT infrastructure in the northeastern States.
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In order to augment tele-connectivity, BharatNet is being implemented so that network infrastructure can be created for providing Broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) (approximately 2,50,000) in the country including Gram Panchayats (GPs) of the northeastern region.
“Under Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for NER, an agreement has been signed with BSNL to install 2817 mobile towers for providing mobile coverage in 4119 uncovered villages of Arunachal Pradesh and two districts of Assam with an estimated cost of Rs.2258 crore,” the Minister informed.
He said that Cabinet has approved revised proposal for provision of mobile services on 2G+4G technology for installation of 2173 mobile towers in 2374 uncovered villages and along National Highways for an estimated cost of Rs 3911 crore.
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A New Greenfield Airport has been constructed at Pakyong (Gangtok) at a revised cost of Rs 553 crore suitable for operation of ATR-72 type of aircraft with Apron, terminal building of 100 pax.
Moreover, Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS-UDAN) has been launched to provide connectivity to unserved and under-served airports and promote regional connectivity by making the airfare affordable through Viability Gap Funding (VGF).
Major infrastructure projects have also been taken up in the North-Eastern Region including Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER) at an estimated cost of Rs 5336.18 crore.
The projects are – Broad Gauging & Capital Connectivity Rail Projects; Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening of Transmission & Distribution Systems (CSST&DS) in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs 4754.42 crore; Bharatmala Pariyojana; North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS), etc.
Dr Singh said that under Bharatmala Pariyojana, road stretches aggregating to about 5301 km in NER have been approved for improvement. Out of this, 3246 km road length has been approved for development of Economic Corridor in Northeast. To augment railway network, 7 railway projects consisting of 3 new lines and 4 doublings have been taken up during last three years and current year which are at various stages of execution.