Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays foundation stone of development project virtually under Amrit Bharat Station scheme

LAKHIMPUR: Finally, North Lakhimpur Railway Station under Lakhimpur district has been covered under the Amrit Bharat Station scheme to conduct development of the railway station with modern facilities to make it a world class railway station. In addition to this, three more railway stations of the undivided Lakhimpur district, namely Harmoti railway station, Silapothar railway station and Murkongselek railway station (latter two are currently under present Dhemaji district) have also been covered under the same scheme to upgrade their infrastructure.

For this achievement credit goes to “The Sentinel”, in which a detailed news, titled as “Demand raised to include Lakhimpur, Dhemaji railway stations in Amrit Bharat Station scheme”, depicting Centre’s continuous negligence with regard to boosting railway service in North Assam and to covering any of the stations under Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts under first phase of the Amrit Bharat Station scheme was published on September 1. The news also sketched the vehement resentment of the people of the two districts which brewed due to non-inclusion of any of the railway stations under the two districts in Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. As part of the plan of the aspiring scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of 508 railway stations across the country on August 6 of the last year. The redevelopment would cost more than Rs. 24,470 crores. The chosen 508 stations are spread across 27 States and Union Territories, including 32 railway stations of Assam, but the railway station under North Assam had been deprived of the benefits of the newly adopted scheme like the past. The issue triggered a wave of discontentment among the citizens of the both district during the during days. The news about these issues published in The Sentinel managed to draw the attention of the Railway Department and Lakhimpur MP Pradan Baruah and then they initiated steps to cover North Lakhimpur, Harmoti, Silapothar and Murkongselek railway stations under Tinsukia Railway Division under Amrit Bharat Station scheme. Under this futuristic scheme of re-development, 19 stations of Tinsukia Railway Division have been included.

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stones of the “Railway Station Development Projects” of the four railway stations of the two districts including the rest 16 stations of Tinsukia Railway Division under Amrit Bharat Station scheme through video conferencing. Simultaneously, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for re-development works of more than 554 railway stations across the country under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme on the same day through video conferencing. During the occasion, the Prime Minister further dedicated more than 15,00 road over and under bridge over Indian Railways for the service of the nation.

According to the same press communique, Indian Railways is committed to upgrade rail infrastructure in Assam. At present multiple railway projects of Rs. 81,941 crore are in progress in Northeast region. In this year’s budget, Northeast has got a record allocation of Rs.10,369 crore and 60 stations have been planned to be developed as world class railway stations.

Sources from the Railway Department informed that a fund amounting to Rs. 7.68 crore has been allocated for the development of Murkongselek railway station while Rs. 7.88 crores has been allocated Silapothar railway station. On the other hand, Rs.7.12 crores has been sanctioned for the infrastructure development of the North Lakhimpur railway station while Rs. 9.84 crores has been allocated for Harmoti station.

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