Sikkim runs to honour soldiers’ valour and sacrifice
The Sikkim Soldierathon, a hill marathon, took place in Gangtok today, commemorating the bravery and sacrifice of India’s soldiers.
The Railways is set to link Sikkim’s capital, Gangtok, to the capitals of all Northeastern states by March 2022, a senior official said last week.
The capitals of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura have already been connected by a broad gauge rail network. Work on new broad gauge lines has been taken up to connect the other state capitals — Shillong (Meghalaya), Imphal (Manipur), Kohima (Nagaland), Aizawl (Mizoram) — which is expected to be completed by 2020.
In Sikkim, the project has been riddled with land acquisition issues. The project of laying a broad gauge line from Sivok to Rangpo of 45 kms was sanctioned in 2008-09. However, it has been in limbo since then with just 19 per cent of the work being completed so far, officials said.
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“There are land acquisition issues and the extremely challenging terrain in the entire North-east, which we have to deal with while taking on such projects. However, we have already completed 45 per cent of the work in projects of the North-east. We hope to bring Sikkim on the national railway map by March 2022,” said a senior official.
Among the most significant of the ongoing projects is the 111-km JiribamTupul-Imphal line, 64 per cent of which has been completed so far.
It will not only put the capital of Manipur on the railway map in the next couple of years but also prepare grounds for taking the railways to Moreh on the Myanmar border and beyond to become part of the proposed Trans-Asian Railway. A 10-km section from Jiribam-Vaingaichungpao has already been completed.
In Aizawl, 58.43 per cent of the 51.38-km Bhairabi-Sairang line has been completed, while in Kohima, the Railways has made a progress of 25.23 per cent in the 82.5-km Dimapur-Zubza line. In Shillong, the 21.50-km TeteliaByrnihat line has seen a 40 per cent progress, while a 10-km section from Tetelia-Kamlajari has been completed. Another line in the state, the 108.40-km Byrnihat-Shillong line has only seen progress of around five per cent.
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