Of 7 NE states, Itanagar is second capital to come on railway map

While Guwahati has been on the railway map for more than 100 years now – though with a serious delink that was caused by the Partition of India in 1947 – Tripura capital Agartala had fallen off the map in October last year even after it was connected by a metre gauge line in June 2008. Though the broad gauge link to Agartala is fast progressing, railways have miles to go before it connects Shillong, Kohima, Imphal and Aizawl to the rest of India.

Itanagar – whose railway station is actually 10 kms downhill at Naharlagun – had earlier informally got connected on April 7 2014 when the railways introduced the Naharlagun-Dekargaon passenger train amid the Lok Sabha elections. But that was a short-lived service as the railways were compelled to suspend the train following serious law and order problem leading to threat to life of railway employees posted there.

Prime Minister Modi, while dedicating the 21.75-km Harmuti-Naharlagun rail line on Friday, also flagged off two new trains from Naharlagun,  a weekly AC Express between Naharlagun and New Delhi and an Inter-City Express between Naharlagun and Guwahati. “Rail network is the backbone of development. Railways will not only emerge as strength for Arunachal Pradesh’s development, but I am sure, will also boost tourism. People from outside will now see the beauty of this land,” Modi said.

Modi also described the Naharlagun-Delhi AC Express as an “anmol nazrana” for the people of the state that shares 1080-km international boundary with China. “This AC Express is an Anmol Nazrana from the government of India for the state on its birthday,” he said. The BJP government’s first railway budget had proposed yet another railway dream, this being a 378-km line from Missamari (Tezpur) in Assam to Tawang, which is located at an elevation of 3048 metres right on the boundary with China.

Inner Line Permit a must

A journey to Naharlagun will however not be as easy as on any other train, especially because any person from outside the state will also have to procure an Inner Line Permit (ILP) issued by the government of Arunachal Pradesh. It was because of lack of a mechanism to check entry of persons without ILP that the student community in Arunachal Pradesh agitated, leading to temporary suspension of the Naharlagun-Dekargaon Passenger train on May 8, 2014.

“Though the railways have no business with Inner Line Permit, we have devised a mechanism in which no unreserved passenger or a passenger without an ILP will be able to travel into Arunachal Pradesh. While no general tickets will be issued for Naharlagun, the print-out of every ticket will prominently ask passengers to obtain an ILP,” Northeast Frontier Railway CPRO Sugato Lahiri told The Indian Express today.

Moreover, officials of the Arunachal Pradesh government will also check passengers on trains en route to Naharlagun, with the railways providing them a list of all passengers booked for the hill state, Lahiri informed. Altogether three Northeastern states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram – have restrictions for entry of people from other states, with those intending to visit these states required to obtain an Inner Line Permit (ILP), which is issued by offices of the respective governments in various cities including New Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Tezpur, Lakhimpur and Dibrugarh.