Staff Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb. 25: The Chief Secretary WMS Pariat, said that the Railway Authority of India has communicated with the Meghalaya Government on the Byrnihat railway project and has sought clearance from the state government.
Pariat assured that clearance would be provided soon.
Reacting to the Union Railway Minister Mamata Banarjee’s action including the work of Byrnihat-Shillong as a national project in her Budget presented on Wednesday, Pariat in an exclusive interview said, in Meghalaya, the government is concentrating on two focal points – the Garo Hills railway project and the Byrnihat railway project.
He added that land acquisition process for the Garo Hills has already been initiated after the survey of the alignment provided by the railway authority.
In the Garo Hills sector, the government is expected to hand over land in another two- three months to the railway authority, while for the Byrnihat project, land can only be handed over next year. Rail connectivity to Shillong would be a dream fulfilled for the state which does not have a railway, Pariat said.
Pariat, however, said that clearance would be given soon, after which the land acquisition proposal will be initiated, adding that everything was dependent on the time frame indicated by the railway authority.