Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday held a review meeting on the ongoing railway projects in Arunachal Pradesh. This was a much needed meeting, considering the fact that the Indian Railways has miserably failed to complete projects under it on time. Except the Harmuty-Naharlagun line, the majority of the projects in the pipeline in the state are struggling to take off. The Murkongselek-Pasighat railway line is yet to see the light of day. The project was earlier caught up in a land controversy issue and has not seen much progress in recent years. The railway ministry is also yet to speed up the ambitious target of connecting the foothill areas of the state with railway lines.
There is immense scope for passenger as well as luggage train services within the state. This needs to be properly tapped. Also, with the growing population, there is more intrastate and interstate movement of people. The existing transportation system has not been able to meet the needs and therefore the people look up to the new services. The massive popularity of the Naharlagun-Guwahati inter-city train service is an example of how people are ready to use train service for transportation. The railways should start a luggage service on this route. For faster development of the state, all the projects should be taken up on a war footing. Further, the Indian Railways should keep its commitment and implement all its announced projects on time. Besides the railway line projects, they also need to respect the commitment made under the CSR. In Naharlagun, the Railway had committed to construct a bridge over the Pachin river to connect Yupia station with Lekhi village. The work on the bridge has halted, and it is alleged that the Railways has stopped the funding. How will it win the trust of the people if it is not able to fulfill its own promises?