Green Light To Mizoram Rail Project

Aizawl, Jun 3 : A major project envisaging extension of the railway network in Mizoram is all set to begin in right earnest.

The extension will be made from the state’s only railhead at Bairabi to Sairang, 51km and 20km from Aizawl respectively, by a 51.3km broad gauge line.

The project found itself in murky waters as the issue of payment of compensation to landowners and the forest department proved to be quite intractable for the past four years.

However, in the past one year, a task force, headed by retired Indian Postal Service officer Zasanga and set up for accelerating the pace of settling the compensation demands of individual land owners, was able to solve the problems in phases.

The cost for the project has ballooned from Rs 519.34 crore 10 years ago to Rs 2,384.34 crore at present.

Official sources in Aizawl today said the compensation formalities in five clusters of villages straddling the railway project had ended last week with the last of the landowners, who had parted with their properties in Mualkhang sector, accepting the cheques.

Earlier, compensations were distributed to land owners in Kawnpui, Hortoki, Bhairabi and Khamrang villages.

According to the state revenue and forest departments, 74,488 hectares of forest land and 356 hectares of private land had been acquired till last week.

The ambitious railway infrastructure project may start at the end of the monsoon. Mizoram is still considered to lack the basic communication infrastructure, making this tiny state quite inaccessible.

Zasanga today said the Bhairabi-Sairang section will have 23 tunnels, 154 long rail bridges and 46 short bridges.

The deadline for completion of construction is 2020.

Zasanga said 75 per cent of the project would be funded by the PMO and 25 per cent by the railways.

Arunachal panel

The Arunachal Pradesh government has constituted a high-level committee to look into the affairs of the railways in the state.

The committee will be headed by the political secretary, with the inspector-general of police (law and order), deputy commissioners of Itanagar and Yupia district and railway authorities as its members, chief secretary Ramesh Negi said in a statement issued in Itanagar today.