Silchar-Lumding
gauge conversion is still gasping for fresh air
Contractors threaten to
pull out from project
Silchar-Lumding gauge conversion
Silchar-Lumding gauge conversion
By our Staff Reporter Sentinel Assam
GUWAHATI, Feb 10: NF Railway’s gauge conversion work between Lumding and Silchar, which was given the status of a national project by the Railways, is still gasping for fresh air due to the unabated violence triggered by extremists in the project sites despite the recent deployment of additional security forces. The contractors engaged in the project have decided to pull out from the work if the situation does not improve by April.
A meeting held here on February 8 to review the security scenario in the sites of the project which stretches across trouble-torn North Cachar Hills failed to satisfy the contractors, sources said. The meeting was attended, among others, by NF Railway General Manager (Construction) Shiv Kumar, Railway Chief Engineer-I Arbind Kumar, Additional DIG DK Pathak, DIG (Western Range) Y Gautam, NC Hills SP Dipak Kedia and top officials of the CRPF. None from the Army attended the meeting, sources added.
The meeting also admitted that the target schedule for completion of the project, March 2009, cannot be met. Blaming it on inaction on the part of the State Government, the meet said that Dispur should learn from its counterpart, Tripura, where the railway project from Manu to Ambasa was completed on January 26, about two months before the target schedule, despite insurgency-related disturbances in the State. It is expected that the rail line will reach Agartala by December this year.
According to sources, there are about 3,000 Army personnel (one brigade) deployed to guard the project, along with four companies of CRPF and over 500 Assam Police Battalion personnel. The Centre, in view of the importance of the railway gauge conversion and parallel project for construction of a four-lane express highway, deployed the additional forces in NC Hills to ensure smooth progress of work.
However, the initiative has so far failed to remove the fear psychosis from the minds of the people engaged in the project, said the sources, on condition of anonymity. “It seems that the Army personnel of the Dimapur-based 3 Corps are soft towards the NSCN(IM), which allegedly has been backing the DHD (J) to create terror in the project sites,” the sources added. The decision for deployment of Army personnel from Tezpur-based 4 Corps is yet to be implemented, the sources added.
“It is hard to believe that about 3,000 Army jawans have failed to check the violence created by a handful of extremists in the NC Hills,” sources lamented. According to them, the security forces lack commitment to carry out anti-insurgency operations around the sites, and are only camping in the sites without any movement, the sources alleged.
There are about 16 construction firms currently engaged in the railway project. “The situation, in fact, is beyond tolerance, and it has become impossible for the people to continue their work risking their lives,” admitted Shankar Das of M/s Shivam, one of the construction firms engaged in the project, when contacted by The Sentinel today. Though the contractors will somehow carry on their work till the end of the current financial year, they will be compelled to pull out from the project if the situation remains the same, he said.
“We have suffered huge loss due to the delay in the project due to militancy, and cannot carry it on further by risking our lives,” he said. The contractors’ association, in case of pulling out from the project, is planning to move the High Court to claim compensation for the loss they have suffered, he added.
Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion Project
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Asom
MPs not happy with Lalu’s Budget
NE neglected again From our Correspondent Sentinel Assam NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Even after repeated queries from newsmen on the Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion Project, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav today refused to set a target schedule for the completion of the project. “Who will work in the project where a number of workers fell to the bullets of militants? It’s impossible to complete the project without cooperation from the State Government,” Lalu said while talking to reporters after presenting the Railway Budget here today. He added: “Retired jawans will be deployed for the security of rail workers.” Meanwhile, the Parliamentarians from the North-east are up in arms against the Railway Minister for the neglect which the region was meted out in the Rail Budget. Railway Parliamentary Committee Chairman Basudeb Acharya said: “I hoped that the railway network in the North-east would be expanded, and the Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion project would get a boost, but nothing of that sort was announced in the Budget.” AGP MP Arun Kumar Sarma, on the other hand, said: “The North-east is always neglected, and there is no deviation from that this time too. There were proposals for the setting up of a railway coach factory at Bongaigaon and double line up to Guwahati, but the Budget made no such announcements.” The Budget, however, made a mention that the Ministry requested the Centre for an additional Rs 1,712 crore for Jammu & Kashmir and the North-east for some national projects. The projects in the North-east are Jiribam-Imphal, Dimapur-Kohima, Kumarghat-Agartala, the Bogibeel Bridge, Silchar-Lumding- Jiribam and Rangiya-Murkongsele k. |
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