Arunachal Pradesh will soon be included in the railway map of the country with the North East Frontier Railway (NEFR) planning to flag off the first train service from Naharlagun on December 12 next.
NEFR Deputy Chief Engineer S. Kanojia gave this assurance to Governor J.J. Singh after an aerial visit of the ongoing project last evening, official sources said.
"Sir, this is my word...that the train would be flagged off on the scheduled date," Kanojia assured the former Army chief during the trip, the sources said.
Kanojia informed that all train services were suspended along the 450-km Rangia-Murkongselek line in Assam for its conversion from meter to broad gauge under the Centre’s massive expansion programme and the work for the mega block began simultaneously all along the route in September last year.
He said while the Rangia-Rangapara portion would be completed by March next, the Rangapara-North Lakhimpur portion would be over by December 12 and North Lakhimpur-Murkongselek by March 2013.
About 80 per cent of the 20-Km Harmuti-Naharlagun route that also comprises 50 culverts and bridges have been completed with railway tracks laid at many portions. "We would meet the deadline," he said.
Planning Secretary and Secretary to Governor Ankur Garg, PHE&WS Secretary Tomi Ete, Special Transport and Tourism secretary Sonam Chombey also accompanied the Governor in the 50-minute aerial tour to assess progress of various projects, including the ambitious state Civil Secretariat, the Rs 115.25 crore Itanagar water supply scheme, 105-MW Pare Hydro-Electric Project (PHEP) and the Trans-Arunachal Highway.
After the aerial inspection of the water source, catchement area and pipeline work, Ete assured the Governor that the IWWS, being built under gravitational design to tap water of Mehi stream, a tributary of Poma River whose water treatment plant (WTP) is located 16.3 km away.
The water from WTP would flow for 15.19 km to the 20-lakh capacity main storage tank at Mowb-II to cater to the needs of Itanagar population through 10 zonal tanks at different locations. It would be completed by May next, he informed.