Addressing a public meeting here, after flagging off three new trains, he said his government intended to connect all North-Eastern states with rail network and upgrade infrastructure in road, telecom, power and waterways sectors.
“My government has been pro-actively following the ‘Act- East Policy’. As part of this policy, it is our mission to upgrade the infrastructure in road, rail, telecom, power and waterways in the region,” he said.
“I consider the North-Eastern region as the gateway to South-East Asia.... A lot is being done. Much more still needs to be done,” said Modi, who earlier in the day chaired a meeting of North-Eastern Council (NEC), comprising all states of the region.
He said ever since the NDA government came into power at the Centre, more than Rs 10,000 have been spent for development of railway network in North-East and the Railway Ministry plans to spend over Rs 5,000 in the current year.
Highlighting the tourism potential of the region, he said developing tourist circuits required better facilities for tourists in terms of improved road connectivity, hotels and cleanliness.
He said the Central government had launched the ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme, under which it is developing tourist circuits in the country and “one such circuit is proposed for the North-East”.
During his visit here, the PM also dedicated to the nation the doppler weather radar at Cherrapunji, which receives the highest rainfall in the country. “Another feather has been added to its cap,” he said.
“The North-East, a land of beauty and adventure, has been hit by several natural calamities in the past, due to heavy rain and landslides. This weather radar system will enable better weather forecasts, especially for the North Eastern region. This should help in minimising the threat posed by extreme weather conditions,” he said.
“We are opening up both road and rail routes to our neighbouring countries. This will boost the economic development of the region,” he said.
With Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh brought on country’s rail map in November 2014 and Agartala in Tripura connected with broad gauge rail line, he said broad-gauge passenger trains will now connect states of Manipur and Mizoram.
“Today is indeed a red letter day in the history of the North-East. Broad Gauge Passenger Trains will now connect the States of Manipur and Mizoram. Today, Kamakhya in Guwahati has been directly connected with Vaishno Devi in Katra near Jammu,” he said.
Modi said the ‘National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation’ set up in July 2014 for
the development of highways in the north-eastern region is constructing three new bridges on the Brahmaputra river. He said the Corporation is implementing 34 road projects in the north-eastern region to construct around 1,000 km of roads at over Rs 10,000 crore.
The North East Road Sector Development Scheme has been started with an aim of connecting every district in the region with a National Highway. Modi said the development of inland waterways has been given a boost and the Centre had declared 19 waterways in the North-East as National Waterways.
Promising 24X7 electricity to all and aiming that no village in the country would remain without power by 2018, he said two projects covering all eight north-eastern States were being implemented at a cost of around Rs 10,000 crore for improving power transmission.
The commissioning of the Bishwanath-Chariyali to Agra transmission network has made available 500 Megawatts of power in the region from outside, he said. He said his government was implementing a comprehensive Telecom Plan for north-eastern region at over Rs 5,300 crore and Agartala was the third city in India to be connected with an International gateway through Cox Bazar of Bangladesh.