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Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said 59 railway stations in Northeast will be developed with world class amenities/facilities.
The Union minister was interacting with media persons of Northeast virtually from New Delhi in connection with the Railway Budget 2023-24.
Addressing the media persons, the Minister of Railways informed that a capital outlay of INR 2.40 lakh crore has been provided for the Railways, stated an update from Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).
This year allocation is the highest ever outlay which is about nine times outlay made in 2013-14 and 51% more than the last year, NFR stated.
Keeping in view the heritage concept of ‘Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi’, Vaishnaw informed that 310 old train coaches will be converted to LHB coaches for better riding experience and comfortable journey for the passengers.
During last year, 445 km of railway tracks have been electrified in Assam. 15 station each in all divisions of NFR to be developed under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, it stated.
During the interaction, the minister also informed that adequate fund has been allotted for overall development of railway infrastructure in all North Eastern states. For the first time, an amount of INR 1.20 lakh crore has been earmarked for connecting the hilly and border areas.
Moreover, the gross budget allocation for NFR for the FY 2023-24 is INR 10,988.80 crore. It is 13.75% more than previous year’s allotment (INR 9,660.14 crore).
The allocation for North-eastern states is INR 10,269 crore, which is about INR 300 crore higher than the last year. This year budget allocation shows unprecedented growth in several segments like new line and doubling projects, track renewal works, traffic facilities, road safety works, bridge works, signalling, workshop modernisation and customer amenities etc.
Read: NFR undertakes maintenance works to enhance safety
“Around INR 6591 crore has been allocated for new lines while it is INR 1364 crore for doubling of railway tracks. The Minister of Railways also informed that total railway infrastructure projects of INR 75,795 crore are going on in entire North-eastern region,” NFR stated.
NFR also informed that adequate allocation has been made for early execution of all the ongoing works.
Around INR 1100 crore has been allocated for Dimapur - Kohima new line projects and INR 800 crore earmarked for execution of the Jiribam - Imphal new line projects.
“Other capital connectivity projects in the North-eastern states such as Sivok - Rangpo new line projects in Sikkim gets INR 2350 crore while INR 915 crore has been allocated for Bairabi – Sairang new line projects in Mizoram. Among other new line projects, INR 200 crore for Agartala – Akhaura international connectivity project between India and Bangladesh and around INR 700 crore is allocated for Araria – Galgalia project,” it added.
Dimapur, Feb. 3 (EMN)