Railway creates dedicated fund for NE projects

Guwahati, Sep 21 (UNI) The Railway Ministry has decided to create a dedicated fund for two national projects in North East and 25 per cent of total expenses for these two projects would be included in the annual Railway Budget itself.

This was communicated to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi by DoNER Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar in a letter recently, informed a release here today.

The two projects are the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra and the gauge conversion in the Rangiya-Murkokcheleng section of the Northeastern Frontier (NF) Railway.

The Union Minister had further mentioned that the Prime Minister had already approved the creation of the dedicated fund by the Railway department.

Altogether Rs 1980 crore would be needed for the two projects, of which 25 per cent would be provided by the Railway budget and 75 per cent pooled from other Central government sources.

Mr Aiyar, in his letter to Mr Gogoi, also informed that a North East Railway Development Fund would be created for the other five major railway projects in the region.

The Fund would ensure the availability of fund and time-bound completion of the projects, he added.

UNI