NEC funded for new India-B’desh railway project

way2barak, Nov 2 : The North Eastern Council (NEC) under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has funded Rs 863 crore for the Rs 1255.10 crore Agartala-Akhaura railway project, first railway project between northeastern states and Bangladesh.

NEC Secretary K. Moses Chalai on Thursday said that of the Rs 863 crore, the council has already released Rs 708.73 crore.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has funded the remaining amount for the 12.24 km Agartala (Tripura, India)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) railway line.

The DoNER Ministry funded for the 5.46 km railway line in India’s Tripura territory and the MEA provided funds for the 6.78 km from Nischintpur (Tripura) to Gangasagar station in Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday virtually inaugurated the Agartala-Akhaura  railway project along with 1,320 MW generation capacity Maitree Super Thermal Power project at Rampal in Bangladesh’s Khulna division, and the 86.87 km Khulna-Mongla port rail line project.
All the three projects are financially assisted by India.

The NEC Secretary said that the Council being the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the northeastern region has been instrumental in its development.

Its achievements in the last 50 years after its inception in 1972, have been phenomenal in the areas of infrastructure development, education, health and agriculture, he said.

Chalai said that being a planning body for the northeastern region, NEC has set up North East Resource Centre (NERCEN) with objectives to promote use of remote sensing and satellite imagery, web-enabled GIS based tourist and health information system and gap assessment in road connectivity.

It would promote research and innovations in areas such as major climate change drivers, innovative and disruptive technologies, documentation of indigenous habitats, endangered scripts and languages and backward and deprived areas and dynamic data centres and one stop portal for access to information on livelihood and career options.

The official said that NEC has been a major player in establishing many iconic projects like Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, North East Police Academy, Shillong, North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation Ltd in Shillong, North Eastern Region Agriculture Marketing Corporation in Guwahati, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and  Technology in Itanagar, Regional Institute of Paramedical and Nursing Sciences in Aizawl.

The NEC also funded to set up North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management in Tezpur, Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health in Tezpur, North Eastern Space Application Centre in Shillong, Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute, Regional Dental College in Guwahati, Regional Nursing College in Guwahati, Regional Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology in Agartala and Cane and  Bamboo Technology Centre in Guwahati.

The NEC Secretary said that a total of 11,432 km of roads have been constructed with the NEC funding in the northeastern region so far.

The council has supported the installation of 694.5 MW of power plants and construction of 10,341.63 circuit km of transmission and distribution lines, construction of 11 Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) and improvement of the infrastructure in five major airports in the region.

The North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP), a sustainable Livelihood Project with support from IFAD, has also been set up with the NEC funding, Chalai stated.