NH expansion in east India vital for trade
Jangipur (West Bengal), Oct 31: ‘Nathu La Pass (Sikkim) is an international commercial point. So the national highways connecting this point will be of great importance,’ said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today in Murshidabad, 260 KM from Kolkata. He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the four-laning of the National Highway (NH) 34 between Baharampur in Murshidabad district to Dalkhola in North Dinajpur.
Stressing on the expansion of the national highways in eastern India he said that Nathu La Pass is a strategic point of trade between India and China, and with other countries like Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Developing Nathu La route was necessary to develop trade and other economic activities with these neighbouring countries, he said.
Expansion of the national highways was vital for the implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit had expressed concern over the matter, Mukherjee told in his speech. He further said that these countries are the new levers of world trade hence the development of roads in eastern India assumes significance. The expansion of roads in east India is in sync with Government’s Look East policy.
Though roads in Sikkim are significantly better than the equivalent roads of other North-Eastern states, there is only road NH 31A that connects Sikkim with the rest of the country. This road too is often exposed to landslides and flooding by nearby streams, making the state inaccessible by road many a times.
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Vissionary
November 22, 2013 at 6:33 am
Hope AGARTALA emerges as new cyber city of INDIA !!
Really hope leadership in CENTER, TRIPURA Govt and Other Concerned DIGNITARIES takes a FUTURISTIC and PROGRESSIVE approach and goes BIG to put TRIPURA in the GLOBAL IT RADAR and transform into next IT and Technology powerhouse of INDIA !!
Really hope BUSINESS CONGLOMERATES establishes their presence in TRIPURA which shares boundaries with Bangladesh and have a direct proximity (through Mizoram) with Myanmar and Southeast Asia!
Not a single High Tech corporate, Big IT MNCs, Renowned HOSPITAL Chains, BEST of Higher Educational Institutes, World Class (5 Star) Hotels and Luxury Shopping Malls have presence in TRIPURA – Being the 2nd highest POPULUS state in NE and literacy rate crossing 90% (no of unemployment stands 6 lakhs!), need of the hour is to set up IT zones, Industrial corridors (in the line of DELHI-MUMBAI corridor) with invitation to Big IT MNCs (IBM,Accenture,TCS, Infosys, Wipro,HCL,Cognizant), World Class Hospital Chains (FORTIS, APPOLO,MANIPAL), World Class Hotel Chains (Taj, Leela, Oberoi, ITC), world class Retail outlet chains (Walmart, IKEA, Pantaloons,Shoppers Stop, Croma, Reliance Retail etc) to set up their presence at AGARTALA!
TRIPURA is also home to massive talent pool with combination of huge number of working professionals (working in other Metros and abroad currently), local educated youths, youths (and working professionals) from neighboring NORTHEAST states and legal working professionals from Bangladesh and Neighboring countries!
IMPOSSIBLE – just means I AM POSSIBLE! If India need to catch up with developed part of the world,the most strategically placed Northeast (especially TRIPURA) need to be made into a developed region in the shortest possible time!
I strongly believe TRIPURA govt (in close co-ordination with Center, other concerned dignitaries & all corporate vissionaries) can certainly achieve this sooner rather than late, which would definitely give its people a better employment opportunities, a better healthcare, a better access to quality education, a quality lifestyle, and last but not the least a confident and connected TRIPURA leading India’s charge towards contributing to a more stable and stronger global economy!!