DHAMALGAON

Giving a major boost to development of the North-Eastern Region, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Govt. of India, today o­n 19^th September, 2022 inaugurated a Riverfront Passenger Jetty near the Bogibeel Rail cum Road Bridge, constructed by Railways in Dibrugarh. The inauguration programme was attended by Shri Rameswar Teli, Hon’ble Minister of State of Labour & Employment, Govt. of India. The General Manager of N. F. Railway Shri Anshul Gupta, Divisional Railway Manager of Tinsukia division Shri Bijaya Kumar Mishra, senior railway officials and officials from Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways were also present at the occasion.

While inaugurating the Riverfront Jetty at Bogibeel, Hon’ble Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal requested railways for similar facilities at Pandu, Jogighopa and Dhubri while praising the successful development of the passenger jetty by N. F. Railway. He thanked the General Manager, N. F. Railway and Divisional Railway Manager, Tinsukia for successful commissioning of the passenger jetty.

The General Manager of N. F. Railway, o­n the occasion announced the plan for development of New Tinsukia and Dibrugarh Railway stations as per world class standard. Dhamalgaon station is also planned to be developed for enhancing tourism at Bogibeel, the General Manager said. He also promised all-round socio-economic development of the region. Bogibeel will be developed as a Gati Shakti unit for handling freight and passenger traffic in a multimodal concept, he added.

The project to develop river site near the Bogibeel Bridge is a major step towards integrated connectivity between railways and waterways under mission ‘Gati Shakti’ launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Promotion of local tourism & culture and mobility of business activities in and around Bogibeel area will also get an impetus. The project will also lead to development of multimodal transport hub for the North-eastern region and will boost tourism prospects in the upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh areas. This will facilitate transportation of goods and reduce travel time and cost for movement of people.

The work for development of the riverfront at Bogibeel was taken up by the N. F. Railway as a result of a meeting held in October last year with the Union Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Inland Water Transport, Govt. of Assam. The entire project is being implemented in downstream of the Bogibeel Bridge site o­n the South bank.

The project will lead cargo movement facilitating waterways transportation of materials further transportation through railways to the destinations. The Riverfront facility developed also has immense potential to evolve as a Tourist Hub. Exciting water sports like boating, cruise available at the jetty will provide bunch of fascination to tourists and general public. Amenities like restaurant, toilet, parking etc. would also benefit to public at large.

Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal today flagged off a new passenger train between Murkongselek and Dibrugarh via remote from New Delhi. Nine other similar trains in various parts of the country were also flagged of at the same time by the Railway Minister through video conferencing. A programme was also held at Murkongselek during flagging off of the train.

This new train service has been named as “Sewa Service” with an aim to provide comfortable journey by train for people belonging to smaller towns so that they can easily reach bigger nearby cities for their day to day work. With the introduction of this new train a long standing need of the people of this region stands fulfilled. This will also help reducing the road traffic congestion. Better train connectivity will not o­nly help in development of the economic scenario but also prove to be very much beneficial for students, office goers and petty traders of the route.

New passenger train bearing number 55606 will leave from Murkongselek at 08-45 am daily to reach Dibrugarh at 12-15 pm. During return journey train number 55605 will start from Dibrugarh at 01-15 pm to reach Murkongselek at 04-45 pm. The train will have sleeper class and general second class facilities. During its journey the train will have stoppages at Dhamalgaon, Tangani, New Sisibargaon, Sripani, Sisibargaon, Silapathar, Archipathar, Dipa, Simenchapari, Telem, Laimekuri and Jone Karrang stations both ways. Regular service of the train will start from 16^th October, 2019. This train will provide last mile connectivity to the people of this region, reducing the distance for development.