Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Feb 5: The Union Budget has allocated Rs 8,060 crore for development of railway infrastructure in the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) zone.
“NFR has received an allocation of Rs 8,060 crore in the recently placed Union Budget. Out of this, Rs 4,330 crore has been allocated for new lines and doubling works. Another Rs 3,470 crore has been allocated for safety and capacity enhancement works. Passenger amenities received Rs 166 crore. The Gross Budgetary Allocation for the 2021-22 fiscal is 238 per cent more than the average yearly allocation during the period from 2009 to 2014,” an official statement said on Friday.
The Union Budget has allocated Rs 650 crore for doubling of the New Bongaigaon-Agthori (via Rangiya) section and Rs 610 crore for the New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati section. The Digaru-Hojai doubling work has been allocated Rs 100 crore and the New Mainaguri-Gumanihat doubling work has been provided Rs 110 crore.
Among new lines, the Sivok-Rangpo project has been allocated Rs 1,100 crore, the Tetelia-Byrnihat project has been allocated Rs 101 crore and the Agartala-Akhaura project has been allocated Rs 300 crore. Other projects like Jiribam-Imphal has been allocated Rs 1,000 crore, the Bhairabi-Sairang project Rs 1,000 crore and the Dimapur-Zubza project Rs 800 crore.
“This year’s budget has put the thrust on infrastructure development, speed augmentation of trains, development of terminal facilities, improvement of amenities for passengers and other users, construction of road over bridges and road under bridges, and modernization of the signalling system for enhancement of safety and speed,” the statement added.
