Samudra Gupta Kashyap
GUWAHATI, November 24
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t least four Northeastern states are gearing up for a three-day maiden trip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the region, with the most crucial engagement being the two-day annual conference of DGPs and IGPs of the states, union territories and CPOs to be held here from November 29.
Modi is also scheduled to inaugurate the annual Hornbill Festival in Kohima, which also marks the 50th anniversary of creation of Nagaland as a separate state out of the erstwhile Naga Hills district of Assam and the Tuensang Hill Tracts. Modi is scheduled to fly from Guwahati to Dimapur on November 30 afternoon, and inaugurate the Hornbill Festival the next morning.
The annual conference of DGPs and IGPs however stands out to be most important meeting for the prime minister in the backdrop of jihadi groups spreading their net across the Northeastern region. Moreover, the conference is being held for the first time outside the national capital since its inception in 1920. Chief Ministers of all the Northeastern states and Sikkim have been also invited to attend the conference.In Guwahati, Prime Minister Modi will also formally flag off a train to Mendipathar in Garo Hills, which will also put Meghalaya on the railway map for the first time since the hill state was carved out of two Assam districts in 1972. He is also laying the foundation stone of a new railway line from Digaru (Assam) to Byrnihat in Meghalaya in the same function. The prime minister will also address a meeting of BJP party leaders and workers of Assam in Guwahati on Sunday before taking off for Nagaland.
Sources said that while Modi’s Guwahati trip is final, his visit to Nagaland and Manipur is “most likely” to happen. In Manipur, the prime minister likely reach Imphal after Kohima to participate the Sangai Festival – the most important annual tourism festival of the state – the same day before flying back to New Delhi. There are also reports of inclusion of Tripura in the prime minister’s Northeast itinerary, with sources in Agartala saying Modi would commission the second unit of the 756-MW Palatana thermal power plant there.
Courtesy: The Indian Express
