Gao proposes laying new rly lines in Arunachal

Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Mar 12: Western Arunachal parliamentarian Tapir Gao on Thursday proposed laying new railways lines in Arunachal, from Parshuram Kund to Walong, from Pasighat to Tuting, from Silapathar (Assam) to Bame, and from Bame to Aalo, Kamba, Kaying, Tato and Mechuka.
“These railway lines, including the proposed Tezpur to Tawang railway, are important for national security,” Gao told Parliament on Thursday, stressing the importance of railways lines from the security point of view.
“Arunachal Pradesh is a sensitive state in the Northeast. The proposals for rail projects are not only important for the people of Arunachal Pradesh and the NE as a whole, the railway projects are also important for national security and for the military and paramilitary forces,” he said.
Gao opined that absence of connectivity, especially railway connectivity, “was one of the factors behind India’s loss in the 1962 war.”
He said a new railway route could be laid from Pasighat to Roing, and from Roing to Tezu and Chongkham, “which is important not only for economic benefit but also for the security of Arunachal Pradesh.”
He informed the Lok Sabha that work on the Murkong Selek railway line, which is supposed to be completed within two years, has been stalled “due to compensation issue and ego clash among the railways’ officials.”
The report of former railways officials was outright rejected by other officers, forcing the work on the project to slow down, he said.
The MP also urged the railways minister to expedite the Tezpur to Tawang railway line project, saying the people of Tawang in particular and Arunachal in general “are excited to see a railway at 14000 feet above sea level.”
He also said that the railway project in Mizoram is progressing at a snail’s pace, and urged the minister to expedite it.