NF Railway General Manager Holds Meeting with MPs to Answer Queries in Tinsukia

A Correspondent

DOOMDOOMA: In response to various queries raised by the MPs under the jurisdiction of Tinsukia Division of North-East Frontier Railway (NF Railway), General Manager Sanjive Roy convened a divisional meeting with the MPs of the region on Tuesday at the conference hall of Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Tinsukia Division.

Rameswar Teli, MoS (FPI) and MP of Dibrugarh Parliamentary Constituency, Pradan Baruah, MP of Lakhimpur Constituency, Tapan Gogoi, MP of Jorhat Constituency, Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, MP (Rajya Sabha) and Tapir Gao, MP of Arunachal (East) were present in the meeting.

General Manager Sanjive Roy highlighted the various development activities undertaken by the NF Railway in the region while DRM, Tinsukia Division, Ashish Sharma spoke about the measures undertaken by it to cater to the needs of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Jorhat and Golaghat districts under its jurisdiction in matters of Railway communication. Tinsukia, which has the distinction of highest revenue earning division of NF Railway, suffers various constraints mainly due to its geographical isolation and lack of double railway line from Bongaigaon to Tinsukia. To a query of Mos (FPI) and MP Rameswar Teli with regard to conversion of Dibrugarh Town Railway station into a museum and introduction of a Satabdi Express in between Dibrugarh and Silchar, it was stated that the proposal was not feasible in view of its utility that Railway was having at Dibrugarh town station on one hand and because of the fact that sectional speed of Lumding-Silchar hill section was low on the other. Instead, it was assured to examine the proposal of extension of Dibrugarh-Silchar Express train to Tinsukia Junction.

With regard to unsuitable time table of DEMU service to commuters in Dibrugarh -Ledo and Dibrugarh - Dangri section, it was said that the timing was fixed as per revised schedule dated August 9, 2019. MP, Arunachal (East) Tapir Gao raised the question of outdated coaches in most of the trains of N F Railway to which it was said that so far 456 conventional coaches had been replaced by LHB coaches in different trains. He also asked about the status report of new railway line from Pasighat to Rupai via Roing, Tezu, Parasuram, Chowkham and Namsai. To this, it was said that the field survey was completed and the report was under finalization TDC 30.09.2019.

MP of Lakhimpur constituency, Pradan Baruah asked about the long-standing demand of extension of Makum-Dangri section upto Saikhowa (Dhola). Although updated Preliminary Engineering-cum-Traffic Survey (PET) for new BG line had been completed and submitted to the Railway Board in March, 2008, the project was shelved by the Railway Board vide L/No. 2018/W-1/Shelving of Surveys dated July 24, 2018. Significantly, Arunachal Pradesh (East) MP Tapir Gao, while talking with media persons about extension of Railway communication to Arunachal Pradesh, said that as Arunachal Pradesh was strategically important for having its border with China, the investment made for Railways in the State should not be viewed as investment. Rather, it should be construed as development activities for defence of the country.

MoS (FPI) and MP of Dibrugarh constituency, Rameswar Teli also exchanged views with the media persons and expressed the hope that the Railway authority would look into the genuine grievances of the people of the region.

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