“The work to develop the century-old Dimapur railway station in Nagaland into a world-class station is being delayed due to land encroachment issues,” a top official of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said.
“Any kind of development requires space but due to encroachment of Railway land in Dimapur execution could not be carried out on time,” NFR General Manager Chetan Kumar Srivastava told reporters on September 22.
"The Centre has already sanctioned ₹280 crore for the development of Dimapur railway station into a world-class station but the execution is being delayed due to land encroachment issues," Mr. Srivastava said.
He appealed to all to cooperate with the Railway authority so that development could take place without any hindrance. He said the railways had apprised the Nagaland government of land encroachment issue.
“The effort of the State government is positive as it has constituted a high power committee to study the matter and submit its report,” he said.
He also informed that Nagaland's capital Kohima will be connected with railways by 2026 as it is an ambitious plan of the Centre to connect all the capitals of northeastern States with railways.
NFR, DRM Lumding, Prem Ranjan Kumar said first encroachers have to be identified after proper verification of documents only then the eviction plan can be done with assistance from the government.
He said that the railways have their own clear-cut map for evicting the illegal settlers but they need the State government’s assistance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of the century-old Dimapur Railway Station on August 6.
It is among the 508 stations across the country that will be modernised under the 'Amrit Bharat Station Scheme' while 56 railway stations are in the northeast.
