Silchar MP Dr. Rajdeep Roy Hammers for Northeast Connectivity

Special Correspondent

Silchar: Dr. Rajdeep Roy, MP elected from Silchar, has been quite vocal in raising the issues of Northeast in Lok Sabha. In his maiden speech, he pleaded for Citizenship Bill to accord citizenship to minority refugees of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan as well as Assam Accord to safeguard the identity and culture of the indigenous people of Assam. His second speech last Friday on the floor of the House while supporting the demands for grants in the budget of 2019-20 for the Ministry of Roads and Highways centered around Northeast connectivity to link up the South Asian countries for economic boost up.

Dr. Rajdeep Roy said the cries and clamor of the people of the Northeast for improvement of rail and road were hardly taken note of by New Delhi. It began to be heard, rather, seriously attended to only after Nitin Gadkari became the Minister of Roads and Highways. “People of Northeast today are happy to see the surge of development,” he pointed out. He cited the case of Assam where the target was to have 10,199 km of the road network. In a record time of 3 years, 10,153 km was completed with the sanctioned amount of Rs 9170 under PMGSY.

The MP said people now can have access to villages, even remotely located, and get the benefit of various development schemes initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The road connectivity has also helped the people to get the benefits of health and education facilities. The development is now visible on the ground and it is improved and improving roads which have made this possible. Doner Ministry created during the Atal Bihari government has added fillip to the overall economic development. “Development now has become all-pervasive and all touching,”, Roy said.

Dr. Rajdeep Roy referred to the international rally involving Bangladesh, India, China and Myanmar in 2013 which started from Kolkata traversed through Bangladesh to Agartala, Silchar, Moreh, Myanmar and finally the Unan province of China. The rally was organized to convey the message of bringing the south Asian countries closer and knit up into social and economic bonds for the benefit of the countries of the region. He urged for taking up measures by the Ministry of Roads and Highways for laying four-lane expressways from Kolkata to Unan which will take one to Thailand and beyond.

Silchar MP described Guwahati as the gateway to Asian countries and on this dot is Silchar which can be developed as the hub of economic development. He brought in the dream project of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the East-West Corridor, which will connect Silchar with Saurashtra. 600 km of this corridor is in Assam. Unfortunately, 31 km stretch is still in the cobweb of beauracratic wrangling. He asked upon the Minister to see that the problem is expeditiously resolved and the superhighway completed without further delay. He also laid stress on taking up Mangaldai bypass as well Khongsai by pass.

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