Shillong, Mar 4: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday informed the Assembly that the Centre has asked the state government to surrender Rs 200 crore sanctioned for the purpose of land acquisition for implementation of the railway projects in Meghalaya.
“No land has been acquired as there is very strong resistance against the railway project. We have received a letter from the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on December 17, 2024 asking us to return the fund since it was not utilized for past 7-8 years,” Sangma said during the question hour.
“Since it is a sensitive matter, government did not go ahead with the land acquisition. (Due to the delay) government of India has now asked to us refund the money,” he added.
On whether the project is for passenger train or goods train, Sangma however informed that the government has been talking in multiple forum and in principle there is strong opposition against the proposed laying of railway tracks.
“Therefore, it is not possible for us to move forward.”
The chief minister also assured that the government will carry along all stakeholders before deciding to implement such important projects.
“”I have also met the minister concerned on multiple occasions and in the last meeting, I had hinted to the minister that we are not able to move ahead with the project due to strong resistance against laying of railway tracks,” he said.
Asserting the importance of railways, the chief minister said, “As a state government, we strongly felt there is need for railways from economic perspective of transportation of goods as it is something which would ease the overall transportation of products from inside and outside the state…”
North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum has expressed apprehension that there could be a “secret” negotation that led to the Centre to sanction over Rs 200 crore to the state.
Reacting to this, the CM said that there is no such secret negotiation as the money is totally for the purpose of land acquisition.
Earlier, deputy chief minister in-charge transport Sniawbhalang Dhar informed that Rs 200 crore was sanctioned on March 30, 2017.
“However, it could not be utilized due to opposition by local people and due to unavailability of land. And also we have not received any No-objection certificate from the district council,” he stated while citing reason for the project to remain standstill till date.
