Barak students move PM for expediting railway projects

SILCHAR: Representatives of All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students Association (ACKHSA) on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manhohan Singh and submitted a memorandum to him to ask the railway authorities to take measures to expedite the completion of key railway projects of southern Assam. These include the Silchar-Lumding broad gauge project, the Silchar-Mahisasan-Sylhet-Akhaura-Kolkata tracks and Silchar-Agartala-Akhaura-Kolkata tracks. The student body also demanded early completion of the Silchar-Saurashtra East-West Corridor project.
ACKHSA said the broad gauge project was initiated way back in 1983 and it was then proposed that the broad gauge tracks be laid between Sukritipur and Lanka, avoiding much of Dima Hasao hill district. The total outlay for the project was Rs 600 crore. The engineering-cum-traffic survey was done, but, surprisingly, the project was shelved.

After that a proposal came from the Railway Board to connect Silchar with Jogighopa through the broad gauge tracks, most of which would go through Meghalaya. The people of Meghalaya, however, objected to the proposal as they were not didn't want their state on the railway map for fear of easy infiltration by outsiders, ACKHSA added.
It's almost three decades since the project was initiated, but connectivity in southern Assam, Mizoram and Tripura hasn't improved. The progress of the present 214-km Lumding-Silchar broad gauge project through Dima Hasao has been delayed because of government apathy. Although the foundation of the project was laid by the-then Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and it was declared a National Project in 2004 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the project has witnessed little progress over the years, the student body said. It said the project may again fail the fresh deadline of December, 2013 given the tardy progress.
ACKHSA said in response to the repeated demands of the people of this region, New Delhi sent a proposal to the Bangladesh government for revival of the defunct railway transit facilities between India and the neighbouring country through Mahisasan point on the international border in Assam's Karimganj district.

Source :  http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-27/guwahati/36021655_1_broad-gauge-project-lumding-silchar-railway-projects