Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has assured that development works at Dimapur Railway Station would begin from April 30, 2024. This was reiterated by NFR, Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) Sabyasachi De while talking with Nagaland Post on Wednesday. It may be mentioned that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 6, 2023 laid the foundation stone virtually for developing Dimapur railway station into a world class station at an estimated cost of Rs 283 crore.
Dimapur station is among the 508 railways stations across the country to have been selected for redevelopment under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. However, the ground reality is that unless large tracts of railway land, which have been under occupation since late 60s, are cleared, there is slim chance for starting any construction/development in Dimapur railway station.
This could be the excuse that is needed to divert funds meant for Dimapur to other state(s), if the past serves as any indication.
Dimapur is the only railway station and the second highest revenue earner for NFR but it is soon going to be overshadowed by other upcoming stations in Assam.
Since the focus of the Nagaland government is mainly on the Dhansiri-Shokhuvi-Zubza-Kohima line, the NFR is escaping being harassed for development of Dimapur.
Asked about the disputed encroachment issue, NFR’s chief public relations officer (CPRO), Sabyasachi De, told Nagaland Post that a dedicated committee, in collaboration with state machinery, was actively formulating plans for evictions of unauthorised occupiers of lands at Dimapur railway station.
It may be recalled that last year, Northeast Frontier Railway general manager, Chetan Kumar Srivastava, had told Nagaland Post that the development project would be carried out in a phased manner.
He had informed that the phase-I would focus on interior upgrades while phase-II would encompass development of surrounding areas including parking facilities.
NFR general manager disclosed that fund for the project had been sanctioned, but maintained that NFR was facing hurdles in project execution due to railway land encroachment in Dimapur. He also stressed that any land patta issued by the district administration on railway lands would be revoked with no compensation granted to encroachers.