Meeting on Broad Gauge at Haflong 'an eye-wash'
SILCHAR, Jan 5: “The scheduled meeting of all the MLAs of Barak Valley with the NF Railway officials at Halflong at the initiative of Gautom Roy, Minister of PHE, to discuss the Silchar-Lumding BG for its expeditious completion, as officially stated in a press-release issued by the district information and Public relations department of the State government is nothing but an eye-wash and a part of the continuous exercise of the politicians and bureaucrats to hoodwink the people of the valley”, pointed out Ajoy Roy, convener of Silchar-Lumding BG Rupayan Sangram Committee.
Ajoy Roy said people have lost faith and confidence in what the politicians have been speaking about the completion of the BG which has been delayed by more than 16 years and from all indications its fate hangs in balance. He reminded Santosh Mohan Dev, former Union minister, assured that the BG would be completed by 2009. Gautom Roy did not lag behind in giving assurances. The date of completion was first fixed in 2011 to be extended to 2013 and now he promises it by 2014.
Ajoy Roy does not see any possibility of the BG being completed in near future and therefore he thinks people of this valley after being fed up with assurances only will believe in what the Minister asserts. He added to say, “On the eve of panchayat elections, this is a diversionary tactics of the Congress government to keep the people in good humour.” He held Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, squarely responsible for the inordinate delay in the completion of BG. He did not find any reason why the Chief Minister should maintain silence on the important issue of connectivity which would lead to the economic development of this land-locked region.
If the rail head could make significant headway in Kashmir and even in the neighbouring Tripura with identical geographical, physical and logistic problems, why should the rail link in Barak Valley continue to drag its feet, Roy asked? It is all the more unfortunate that even after being elected to power for the third consecutive term, the State government should continue to have step motherly attitude towards this valley. He minced no words to dub the scheduled meet on BG as a ‘wild goose chase’.
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