ITANAGAR, Jan 12: Chief Minister Pema Khandu has written to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, urging them to prioritize rail connectivity to Arunachal Pradesh in the forthcoming Union General Budget 2018-’19.
In separate letters to the union ministers, Pema stated, ‘Naharlagun railway station is currently having all the required amenities to start operations of new train services including Rajdhani Express train.’
Stating that the number of passengers availing train services has increased considerably in the frontier state, the CM urged the union ministers to include some of the vital points in the budget announcement during the General Budget, such as: introduction of a Rajdhani Express train service from Naharlagun to New Delhi and vice versa; and increasing the frequency of the Shatabdi Express running between Naharlagun-Guwahati from alternate days to daily.
He also pleaded with the union ministers to increase the frequency of the Naharlagun-New Delhi Super Fast Express from weekly to daily, and to christen it ‘Arunachal Express’.
The CM’s other requests were: introduction of new express trains between Naharlagun and Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata; and introduction of a goods train from Naharlagun to Guwahati to boost trading of indigenous products and agri-horti produces.
