Connectivity push turning NE into India’s gateway to Southeast Asia: Sonowal
The Union Minister added that four-capital connectivity rail projects in Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and Meghalaya are underway
The Bairabi-Sairang railway line in Mizoram. (Photo - @DynastyDoungel / X)
New Delhi, Dec 4: Integrated check posts, upgraded border infrastructure and expanding multi-modal connectivity linking waterways, highways and rail networks have propelled the Northeast towards becoming a logistics and cultural gateway to Southeast Asia, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Thursday.
Sonowal, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Northeast has witnessed a “historic reversal” of decades of neglect.
“Under the Act East Policy, the Northeast is becoming a logistics and cultural gateway to Southeast Asia. The region suffered seven decades of under-representation and under-investment. Under PM Modi, the Northeast is recognised as the ‘Ashtalakshmi’ of India. Today, it is not just a border region but a new engine of national growth,” he said at a press conference.
Highlighting the pace of connectivity expansion, Sonowal said that all major gauge conversion work in the region has been completed, with Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram now connected to the broad-gauge network.
“Goods and passenger trains are reaching many interior locations for the first time,” he added.
The former Assam Chief Minister said the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge, completed in 2018, and the commissioning of the Bhairabi–Sairang link in June this year have significantly improved access across Assam and Mizoram.
Four-capital connectivity rail projects in Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and Meghalaya are underway, while the India–Bangladesh Agartala–Akhaura rail link was jointly inaugurated by the prime ministers of both countries in November 2023.
Sonowal said more than 11,000 km of national and strategic highways have been upgraded in the past decade, while air connectivity in the Northeast has undergone “a revolution”.
The number of operational airports has more than doubled from nine in 2014 to 19 now. Greenfield airports at Pakyong and Hollongi, along with upgraded terminals at Tezu, Rupsi and Agartala, have been made operational under the UDAN scheme, he reiterated.
He added that a network of heliports and water aerodromes has also been developed to extend connectivity to remote districts.
PTI