Guwahati: The newly elected MDA 2.0 Government will be contacted by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in order to get a new perspective on the 108-kilometer Byrnihat-Shillong railway project.
In an effort to remove the roadblocks standing in the way of the grandiose railway project, rumours claim that railroad authorities would make contact with the state administration.
The MDA Government halted the railroad project and made no attempts to restart it in response to the demands of the local pressure organisations. These organisations urged that they be restricted from talking about railway plans until the Inner Line Permit or some other similar safeguard for the state’s indigenous tribes had been put in place.
These pressure organisations have been opposing both the passenger and the cargo trains because they thought the trains would bring a lot of people into the state.
No work has been done in Meghalaya as a result of persistent protests by politicians and pressure organisations against the railway project due to worries about inflow and threats to the state’s indigenous communities.
Similar to the Byrnihat-Shillong project, the Tetelia-Byrnihat railway line has not materialised in Meghalaya despite tremendous progress being made in Assam, where more than 75% of the actual building work has been finished.
State’s chief minister Conrad K. Sangma stated before the Assembly the previous year that he had come under “great pressure” to build railroads in the state from the federal government. Yet he was very clear that the state administration would not move forward with the railroad project without involving all pertinent parties.
You may recall that during the most recent first part of the Budget session of Parliament, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said on the House floor that the 108-kilometer-long Byrnihat-Shillong railway project is encountering a significant law and order situation brought on by KSU.
The KHADC needs a NOC in order to purchase land for the railway project, the minister had noted in a letter response to the inquiry on February 10.
Regarding the project’s present state, the minister added that a final location survey (FLS) could not be carried out within a 5-kilometer range.
“All actions, including land purchase,” the minister declared, “are held up on this account.”
The 22-kilometer Tetelia-Byrnihat project’s Tetelia-Kamalajari (10 km) phase has been finished and put into service, according to the minister. The statement claims that while work in Meghalaya has been suspended due to a law and order issue, work has resumed in Assam’s balance part.
Funding for the project was Rs 125 crore in 2019, followed by Rs 300 crore between 2020 and 2023.
The Byrnihat-Shillong railway line will have 100 bridges in all, the longest of which will be 701 metres long.
The 10 stations on the suggested route are Byrnihat, Sohkhwai, Lailad, Umsong, Umar, Nongsder, Kyrdemkulai, Umroi, Umpling, and New Shillong.
The planned project has 31 tunnels, each measuring 39.06 kilometres in length. As much as 36.03 percent of the rail’s overall length will be taken up by tunnels. The longest tunnel is expected to be 4.14 kilometres long.