Date:03/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/03/stories/2008070359801300.htm

National

All northeast capitals will be linked by rail: Manmohan

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: All capitals of the northeastern States will be linked by rail, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here on Wednesday.

Infrastructure deficiency in the region remained a major concern. So infrastructure projects there were given the status of “national projects” with a special funding pattern.

“Airports are being modernised and new ones are being built. An ambitious programme of road building has been taken up under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme and Rs. 31,000 crore is being invested in roads in the 11th Five Year Plan period. There are relaxed guidelines for rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana so that even the farthest hamlets on the border are linked by road.”

The Prime Minister was releasing a document, “North Eastern Region Vision 2020,” which has been approved by the Northeastern Council. It envisages a slew of development schemes.

“Let development be the leitmotif of the region now. For too long has violence been the dominant recurrent theme of discourse on the northeast. It shall, and it must now be development and inclusive development … violence has no place in our society and our culture.” There was no grievance that could not be represented through the ballot.

Along with infrastructure development, focus should be on agricultural and rural development in the northeast, which “requires a second Green Revolution specific to the region.”