NRDC to demonstrate at railway stations tomorrow

 

COOCH BEHAR, Feb. 27: Demanding speedy implementation of the New Maynaguri-Jogighopa railway project the New Railway Demand Committee (NRDC) will organise daylong sit-in demonstrations at all railway stations between Cooch Behar and Dhubri (Assam) tomorrow.

 

The NRDC joint convenor Mr Chandi Pal said that Rs 60-crore only was allocated in the Union Railway Budget for the New Maynaguri-Jogighopa railway project though they expected more. About Rs 200-crore was allocated till now for the project, he recalled. This time the Railway Budget failed to meet the aspirations of the people of this region, as there was no mention about adding momentum for speedy implementation of the project, he opined.

 

It may be mentioned here that the NRDC is engaged in organising popular movements for a long to get the proposed railway route from New Maynaguri in north Bengal to Jogighopa in Assam. A few days ago the chairman of Railway Standing Committee Mr Basudeb Acharya (MP) came to survey the progress of work of the project. He observed that the progress of work was not satisfactory enough and going on very slowly. The senior railway officials who accompanied him had promised him that they might be able to run trains between New Cooch Behar and Golokganj (Assam) by December 2009.

 

But, reviewing the Union Railway Budget the NRDC is not very happy because the Union railway minister failed to allot sufficient fund and said nothing about speedy implementation of the project, Mr Pal said.

 

"We believe that the proposed railway will be of immense help to the industrialisation of this region. It may boost up the trade and commerce scenario of entire northeast region and so we want speedy implementation of the project", Mr Pal said. The new rail route may also encourage the regional economy to grow, he hoped. []