Guwahati, 29 November 2014

Today is an important occasion in the history of the Railways. A state of India is about to be linked with the Railways, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while formally put Meghalaya on India’s railway map.

Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the 19.75 km Dudhnoi-Mendipathar railway line, one that takes off from the New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati main line at Dudhnoi in Assam, and traverses through 9.36 km inside Meghalaya territory to culminate at Mendipathar in West Garo Hills. The railways had earlier successfully run an engine on this route in March this year.

With the rail link to Mendipathar, located at an elevation of 916 metres, becoming a reality, the Railways is looking at the proposed 21.5 km Tetelia-Byrnihat link, which when completed will extend further upwards about 108 kms to Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya in the years to come.

Approved in 1992-93, foundation of the 19.47 km broad guage railway line was laid by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma in 2012. The British had unsuccessfully built the Cherra Companyganj State Railways in Khasi and Jaintia hills region in 1895-96.

Modi in his speech described the area of North East India as Ashta Lakshmi. He said his government in its first budget gave emphasized on creating railway network in North East India.

He said the government is going ahead from Look East policy to Act East policy.

He said he wishes North East may connect to Myanmar through railway and road network. He said this would bring more opportunities for youths here who presently have to leave greenery and water reach area in search of job and go to cities. He said in his recent visit to Myanmar he gave emphasize on increase in trade.

Modi gave example of South Korean leader who planned a big road through the country. Modi said railway connects us, it gives us speed. Modi said small works in railway sector attract applause, but the present government has decided to increase the area of railway connectivity horizontally and upgrade the service, technology and speed vertically. He said the railway system will get immense boost under the leadership of railway minister Suresh Prabhu which would be matching to railway’s progress in last 100 years.

Modi also stressed importance of i-way and optical fiber network infrastructure which may bring IT and call center jobs to hills of north-east at par with Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Modi said there will be railway universities in four corners of country. The youths who complete railway related studies in these universities will be directly recruited in railways.

Modi said railway stations that are used by common people and poor people must be better than airport. He said he has asked railway department to build five-seven star hotel like infrastructure at railway stations which would also bring revenue.

GoI release:

PM’s remarks at the flagging off of the first train from Mendipathar, Meghalaya to Guwahati

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has underlined the Government’s resolve to accord priority to the development of the North-East. He was speaking at the flagging-off of the first train from Mendipathar, Meghalaya to Guwahati by remote, and unveiling the plaque for a new rail line from Bhairabi to Sairang, in Guwahati today. He described this as an important occasion in the history of Indian Railways, when a state was being added to the rail network.

He said that he has heard that according to Vastushastra, if the North-East corner of the house was maintained well, then the entire house could be taken care of. He said that all he knew was that if India has to be prosperous, then development of North-East was a priority.

The Prime Minister said infrastructure is the first step towards development. Once infrastructure is developed, the people can themselves contribute a lot to development, he added. The Prime Minister gave the example of South Korea to show how infrastructure creation could spur growth and development. He said if good connectivity was established across the eight states of the North-East, the entire region would prosper, and tourism would flourish.

The Prime Minister said that the first Union Budget of the new Government has committed Rs. 28,000 crore to the development of new railway lines in the North-East.

The Prime Minister said that the whole world acknowledges that this century is Asia’s century. Therefore the need of the hour is to extend the “Look East” policy to an “Act East” policy, and to connect the entire region with Myanmar and countries beyond.

The Prime Minister said India now needs next-generation infrastructure – consisting of both highways and i-ways (information ways). He said there should be no digital divide, and the vision of Digital India also encompasses the North-East. Why should there not be a gas-grid, why should we not get electricity for all 24 hours, the Prime Minister asked, expressing confidence that next-gen infrastructure would be the key to building a modern India. He said a good optical fibre network would lead to immense opportunities for the North-East.

The Prime Minister said he is taking special interest in the development of the North-East, and had discussed connectivity during his recent visit to Myanmar for the ASEAN-India Summit and East Asia Summit.

The Prime Minister said the Railways can be an engine of economic growth. He expressed disappointment that its potential had not been recognized in this fashion so far. He said his Government would expand and modernize the Indian Railways. He spoke of both horizontal expansion of railways – expanding the network across India, and vertical expansion of railways – which means capacity building, technology upgradation and better services. The Prime Minister said that India had allowed 100 percent FDI in Railways, to spur the process of modernization of Indian Railways. He said the Government is also considering privatization of Railway Stations to promote economic activity.

The Prime Minister said Railways need dedicated expertise and technology upgradation. In order to build human resource for this purpose, the Government would set up four Universities for the Railways, and graduates from these Universities would be able to contribute to the Indian Railways, also getting employment in the process.

The Governor of Assam Shri JB Patnaik, the Governor of Meghalaya and Mizoram Dr. Krishna Kant Paul, the Chief Minister of Assam Shri Tarun Gogoi, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya Dr. Mukul Sangma, the Chief Minister of Mizoram Shri Lal Thanhawla, the Union Minister for Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu, the Union MoS (IC) for Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal and the Union MoS Home Shri Kiren Rijiju were present on the occasion.