Ministry to focus on better air, road connectivity in N-E

A proposal for daily air services from Tezpur and Lilabari in North Lakhimpur in Assam to the rest of the country was submitted to the Centre for their urgent disposal, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region Paban Singh Ghatowar said today.

He said a number of greenfield airports will also be developed to provide facility of air connectivity in a number of places of importance in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, a four-lane road will be connected to all places of the North-East during the current Five-Year Plan period, Ghatowar said.

The third bridge over river Brahmaputra will come up at Bogibeel connecting Dibrugarh and North Lakhimpur districts in upper Assam in the next two years for which Rs 600 crore has been allocated by the Centre, the minister said.

The ministry has also given special emphasis on a permanent solution to the problems of soil erosion and flood in the Brahmaputra Valley, where nearly 10 lakh people were seriously affected during the last waves of floods in Assam.