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Our Correspondent
Imphal, Aug. 25 (EMN): Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Darshana Vikram Jardosh on Thursday said that the railway projects in Manipur are progressing smoothly with 50 percent of the world’s tallest railway bridge completed.
Addressing a press conference after reviewing the progress of the 110km Imphal-Jiribam rail line which was taken up with an anticipated cost of INR 14,322 crore, the visiting Union minister said that plans to construct low budget hotels or the like on the first floor of railway stations or nearby tourism potential bridge or tunnels are in the pipeline and that discussion are going on with the government as it will help in developing the railway line with tourism activities.
India’s tallest railway bridge which is currently under construction as part of Imphal-Jiribam railway line having 11 major bridges and 129 minor bridges,11 stations across five districts, is also reportedly projected to be one of the world's tallest railway bridge with a height of 141 metres.
Keeping in view of the recent unfortunate landslide in Noney District, there has been restructuring of the construction work. Experts have done research on techniques regarding cabling, electrification while the authorities are installing the early warning system along the rail line to avoid disaster in future, she stated.
On the handloom and handicrafts sector development projects in the state, the minister said that works related with handloom and handicrafts mainly involving women are next to agricultural work in the state.
There is indication of a firm coordination with the state and the central government in taking up the schemes successfully regarding handloom and handicrafts. There are three handloom products which have a Geographical Indication (GI) tag and that the products having GI tag will be easier for international business with countries having bilateral relations.
For running a smooth internal business, training will be provided by the concerned department to the handloom and handicraft artisans of the state to meet the global demands, she said.’
Sharing his view, the General Manager Anshul Gupta of Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) who was also present during the press conference said that the tourist centres will be developed at places such as Rani Gaidinliu station or tallest Rail Bridge site or longest tunnel at Tupul-Imphal rail section etc.
And for which, the Railways will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government regarding the development of the tourist spots which can also be used as filming locations for film industries, he added.
The general manager also informed that the survey works of the Imphal-Moreh railway line are underway and it will be completed by January 2023 while the government is also aiming to complete the Imphal-Jiribam railway line by December 2023.
It may be noted that the union minister who arrived in Imphal on Aug. 23 to oversee the various central projects undertaken in the northeastern state visited India's second longest tunnel on the Tupul-Imphal section railway line and reviewed the work in progress for Imphal railway station in Manipur.