The Union government on Thursday widened the scope of the broad gauge railway project, extending the proposed “Jiribam-Imphal Road (Tupul) scheme” to connect Imphal and make it accessible to the rest of the country.
The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure cleared the restructured cost for the extended project, which is now expected to incur an outgo of Rs. 4,444 crore. The Centre will fund 75 per cent, and the rest will be met from the general budgetary support for the Railways. The expenditure on the project so far has been Rs. 682 crore. Expected to be completed by March 2016, the project will bring Imphal East, Tamenglong, and Senapati districts of Manipur under the railway map. When completed, Imphal will get connected with the mainstream and this will allow for direct movement of passenger and freight from these parts of the north-east to the rest of the country.
