Seven years ago, Tripura proposed a new national highway in the form of a Northeast corridor. The proposal is still pending. Five years ago, it sought four laning of its only NH link. This one is pending too.
The state, which has just four districts and 40 blocks and a literacy rate of 80.4 per cent, is yet get a rail link to other state capitals in the north-east. In the 70s, it demanded a rail link with the rest of the country, which requires digging of just three tunnels. Nothing moved.
Tripura first demanded a rail link between capital Agartala and its southernmost tip of Sabroom, 75 km from Chittagong port, 50 years ago. Had it been sanctioned, Tripura and the entire north-east would have been linked with South-East Asia.
To date, these proposals are on the list of priority demands of successive Tripura chief ministers paying periodic visits to the national capital.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who visited New Delhi last week to attend a meeting of the North Eastern Council, was pushing for these very demands.
Sarkar, who left the meeting a bit early on Thursday, seemed listless as he referred to the elusive rail link: "So many people were there but we have not been able to clinch this. We need more effort."
The proposed gas pipeline from Bhutan through Tripura does not cheer him. "We have no official information," he said.
"The central government has no problem in announcing. Serious effort is needed to implement. There are so many bottlenecks. Mainly it is the bureaucrats who create problems," he added.
Sarkar cannot help pointing out the contrast between the engineering miracles being achieved by the Delhi metro and the attitude towards his state. "Why have we failed in digging three tunnels for extending the railway line up to Agartala," he queried.
It was declared a national project in the Budget speech of 2005-2006, to be completed by March 2007, he said, adding: "The railway officials came and said linking Agartala with Sabroom was not viable. I do not know what is that."
"It is vital to the future of the region. They are least concerned. Are you saying that all other railway lines are viable? The government is not a businessman and should not talk like one," he says.
The other concern of the chief minister is the state of telecommunications in the state. "Old equipments are being sent," he said. Optical fibre line is yet to be laid in the 40 blocks. Broadband is being extended, but slowly, and cell phone facilities are minimum.
"Since we have five international borders, there is reluctance to allow private telecom companies to operate. Whole of Kashmir has mobile network. Why should we be deprived," he asked, adding: "Some improvement is certainly there, but you need speed."
