TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION

            Transport and communication is an important element of infrastructure, based on which the progress of a region may take place. Unfortunately for North East India, the transport and communication system is poorly developed. There are some physical and socio-economic  causes for the backwardness of transport and communication in the  region. The important causes are as follows.

            (1) The region has about two-thirds of its area (about 72%) under  hills mountains and plateau. Only about 28% are plains. Of the 72% of  hills, mountains and plateaus, more than three -fourths have steep slopes, deep gorges and ravines, where laying of roads and railways is a very expensive and difficult proposition.

        (2) North East India is isolated in its location with respect to the rest  of the country. As the region is a cul-de-sac, surrounded by four foreign  countries, and as it is far away from the industrial areas of the country, the lines of transport and communication have not been developed to the desirable extent.

       (3) As the region has  very heavy rainfall for more than six months of  a year, the roads and railways suffer from surface and  gully erosion. The situation is further deteriorated by the  loose soil-base derived largely  from alluvium in the plains and such sedimentary rocks as sandstone, mudstone, shale, etc. in the hills. The roads and railway lines have, therefore, to be constantly repaired and  maintained in serviceable condition, needing a huge expenditure.

     (4) The region, especially its plains, annually experiences devastating floods which often breach and damage roads and railway lines. On the  other hand, heavy deluges cause landslide and soil creep in the hills damaging the roads. These again necessitate repair and renovation of the roads requiring huge expenditure.

     (5) The region has numerous turbulent rivers and hills-streams which flow with fury during the rainy season. Besides, many of them change their course very often. Some of them, again, are very wide. The roads and railway lines need to be frequently bridged and many culverts, retention walls, spurs, spurs, etc. have to be constructed needing labour and  huge expenditure.

     (6) Apart from tea and oil industries, there is practically no large industry in the region Therefore, a well-knit network of transport and  communication has not been laid far.

      (7) Each of the seven state governments, which administer the region, is not financially well off to afford sufficient expenditure to construct and maintain a well-knit transport system. Hence construction of new  roads is rare and maintenance of existing roads is poor.

     Railways

            Railway transport in North East India is not very new. In fact, only  about 30 years after the first railway line between Bombay and Thane had been laid in India, the construction of line in Assam started between 1981-84 Yet the region’s railway network is not well developed. At present the whole region consisting of 255,000 km² has a railway network of only about 2500 km accounting for a density of 9 km  of railway line per 1000 km2 of area. Moreover, out of the 2500 km of the lines only about 961 km  are broadgauge, which the remaining tracks are metre- gauge.

            As stated above laying down of railway lines started in the eastern part of the Brahumaputra Valley in the early eighteen-eighties. The  then British Government and the  British companies, extracting the resources of the region, were interested in taking away the products rather than using these for economic development of the region. Therefore, they constructed the railway lines first connecting the tea, coal, oil and timber producing areas with the river ports on the Brahmaputra. The products carried by the trains were transferred to steamers which took them down the Brahmaputra to Calcutta port and therefrom  to the United Kingdom  The river Barak was also used similarly. Same river routes were also  used to bring mercandise and labourers for tea gardens into the region. Therefore, the first railway lines in the region were not the ones  connecting the region with other parts of India, but those joining tea, coal, timber, etc. producing areas with the steamer ‘ghats’ (river ports).

            The first railway lines to be constructed were the Dibru-Sadia lines between 1882 and 1884 connecting the tea, timber, coal and oil producing areas  of the present Tinsukia district with the river-port of  Dibrugarh. This was followed by the construction of the Jorhat Provincial Railway in 1885 between tea producing Mariani-Titabar area with  Kokilamukh (later Neamati) steamer ghat. In the same year Balipara  tea producing area was connected with Tezpur on the north bank of the  Brahmaputra in Sonitpur district. It was 1895 that the region was first linked with outside by constructing a line from eastern Bengal (now  Bangladesh) to Badarpur of Barak Valley. The railway line from Guwahati to Lumding began to be constructed in 1897. On the other hand, Dhubri was linked with Calcutta in 1902. The hill section of the  railway, linking Lumding of the Brahmaputra Valley with Badarpur of  the Barak Valley, across the hill ranges of the North Cachar Hills district, was constructed in 1903 through 37 tunnels (total length 5190m.). With  the completion the track between Tinsukia and Lumding, Upper Assam  became linked with eastern Bengal by 1904. Between 1909 and 1910 Amingaon, near Guwahati,was linked with Golokganj in Dhubri district, thus connecting the western part of the Brahmaputra Valley with the rest of India. In 1911 a line was extended eastward from Rangia over the north bank of the Brahmaputra to Tangla in Darrang district.This was further extended to Balipara in 1932. In 1917 a line was constructed from simaluguri via Sibsagar to Moran linking the tea producing area  with the trunk railway. Similarly in 1920, the Kaliabar tea growing  area was connected with the trunk railway by constructing a line between Chaparmukh and Silghat via Nagaon. In 1920-1924 Katakhal-Lalabazar line was completed. A line was also constructed from Simaluguri southward to Naginimara in Nagaland in 1929 to carry coal and tea  from the adjoining region. In the year Jorhat-Badulipar-Furkating line was completed through the said rich tea-growing region. It is found that after the settlement of the Muslim immigrants in the north-western part of the undivided Nagaon district, the area bordering the Brahmaputra turned into a rich jute growing area. Hence in 1930 a railway track was laid from Senchowa at the southern outskirts of Nagaon town to Mairabari in the heart of the jute growing region. Thus it is seen that most of railway lines that  are found today in North-East India were laid down during the 50 years between 1882 and 1932 and the region was linked with outside, especially eastern Bengal and Calcutta, through Brahmaputra Valley and Barak Valley. There was no extension of railway after 1932 till independence.

            With the independence and partition of the country the north-eastern region became virtually isolated, because the major roads, both the railway lines and the water way linking it with the rest of the Indian Union fell into what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). So, a new railway line had to be constructed hurriedly through the narrow sub-Himalayan corridor. In 1950 this line, named Assam link was completed connecting Fakiragram station of  Assam with Siliguri station of West Bengal through Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts. The line is 229 km long and traverses a difficult terrain with numerous broad braided rivers with the establishment of a separate zone of the Indian railways, in the name of Northeast Frontier Railways, with headquarters at  Maligaon, the railway administration in the region became somewhat consolidated.

       Immediately after the Indo-Chinese war, the Saraighat Bridge across the  Brahmaputra was built near Guwahati in 1962-63. Simultaneously, the  railway line in the north bank was extended further eastward from Balipara to  Murkongselek in Dhemaji district. This line was opened in 1966.