NORTH-EASTERN STATES

Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said before 2014, the allocation for the railways for the northeast was Rs 2,000 crore but, under the Modi government, it has increased to Rs 10,200 crore, helping expedite projects in the region.

Connecting Guwahati in Assam with New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, the train will help save about an hour of journey time, compared to the current fastest train connecting the two places. It will cover the journey in five-and-a-half hours while the current fastest train takes about six-and-a-half hours to cover the distance, the PMO said in a statement on Sunday.

The Meghalaya government has asked for high-capacity pumps fromCoal India Limitedto dewater the flooded coal mine at Umpleng area inEast Jaintia Hillsdistrict, where five miners have been trapped inside for five days.

The rescue and search operations which is being jointly conducted byNational Disaster Response Force(NDRF) along with theState Disaster Response Forceand the State Fire and Emergency has become all the more challenging with the rising water inside the 500-feet shaft of the mine amid incessant rainfall.

With the electrification of two key routes,Meghalayais set to get its first-ever electric train, theRailwayssaid in a statement.

The Northeast Frontier RAILWAY has achieved the milestone by commissioning a 22.823 kilometre track single-line stretch of Dudhnai-Mendipathar and 34.59 kilometre track between the Abhayapuri-Pancharatna double-line section on March 15. The Central Organization for Railway Electrification (CORE) has carried out the electrification works in these sections.

In a statement, the Railways said at present, Mendipathar is the only railway station in Meghalaya which is in operation since 2014 after being inaugurated by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

The Covid-19 situation in Mizoram is deteriorating at a faster rate than the rest of the NE states even as Assam, which is the most populated state in the region, remains at the top with maximum number of active cases and fatalities.

Barring Manipur, which has nearly 5,000 active cases, the other states so far have adequate beds, ICUs and ventilators.

Despite having a high active caseload of over 40,000 Average, Assams rate of Growth of new cases in the last one week was 1.8%. Tripura had the smallest growth rate of 0.8% in the same period, followed by Arunachal Pradesh with 1%, Manipur with 1.4%, Nagaland with 1.7% and Meghalaya 1.8%.

TheTripura governmentwill call experts to explore the possibility of legalisingcannabis cultivationin the state to boost the rural economy.

Hrangkhwal pointed out that a large number of people in rural areas have been involved in cannabis cultivation mostly in forest land for their livelihood.

Acharya succeeds Ganga Prasad as the 15th governor of . He hails from the tribal Kharwar community of Uttar Pradesh and was a BJP MLC. Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang along with his council of ministers, besides senior officials, were present at the function.

Union petroleum minister Hardeep SinghPurisaid the petroleum sector will play a crucial role in the regions industrial Growth. He said oil production from the northeast is expected to increase by 67% from 4.11 MMT in 2020-21 to 6.85 MMT in the next four years.

Puri was speaking at the North-East Zonal Conference forPM GatiShakti(PMGS), organised by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas here on Monday. Puri added that the area under exploration in the region is going to double in the near future, with crude production expected to go up by 45% in four years and gas production by about 90% in the same period. He urged all the leaders to lend their support to this transformative mission by way of necessary project clearances and the cooperation of state agencies.

As per its mandate, the Ministry of DoNER undertakes matters relating to the planning, execution and monitoring of developmental schemes and projects in NE Region. In Light of the assessment that the NE Region has a significant developmental backlog not only in but also in social development, livelihood and community capacities sectors requiring attention across the 8 NE States,a new scheme, Prime Ministers Development Initiative for North East (PM-DevINE) has been initiated. Announced in Budget 2022-23 as a 100% Central Sector Scheme, it aims at rapid and holistic development of the Region by funding projects of significant impact.

Its objectives are – to fund infrastructure convergently, in the spirit of PM GatiShakti ; support social development projects based on felt needs of the NER States ; enable livelihood activities, particularly for youth and Women ; and fill development gaps in various sectors – through initiatives of significant size and comprehensive reach / sub-activities. PM-DevINE is not a substitute for existing Central or State schemes. While the Central ministries may pose their candidate projects under PM-DevINE, priority will be given to those posed by the States. The projects will be implemented through the North Eastern Council (NEC) or the Ministries / Departments or Agencies.

Meghalayais the second most improved state in the country in terms of implementation ofJal Jeevan Mission(JJM) with 2,03,000 households having been provided with tap water connection within a span of three years, chief ministerConrad K Sangmasaid in his Republic Day speech after unfurling the Tricolour in Shillong.

Chongpotgre andOkkapara Songgitchamvillages located in Gambegre block of West Garo Hills, with a total of 260 households, are an excellent example of 100% attainment of functional household tap connection under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Earlier, these villages were drawing water from Dilni river, which runs between the two villages. The water quality of this river was not fit for human consumption and people were suffering from various Health problems.

Tourist circuit trains will be introduced in the northeast, covering all prominent locations of the region, RAILWAY Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said. According to a release issued by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Vaishnaw, who visited Guwahati on Tuesday, also said that a study to increase rail connectivity in the northeastern states was underway.

He pointed out that five Vistadome Services have already been introduced towards the goal of giving tourism a boost in the region. He added that studies are being conducted to establish strategic railway lines to highlight the beauty of northeast, and start more passenger, intercity and Jan Shatabdi Express-like trains. The release said the minister also underlined that electrification of railway track has been completed up to Guwahati and further work is in progress.