I am delighted to be here with you on this historic occasion of the foundation stone laying ceremony of new broad gauge railway line between Sevoke and Rangpo by Shri Mohamad Hamid Ansari, Hon’ble Vice-President of India in the august presence of the Hon’ble Minister for Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee, our dynamic Chief Minister, Dr. Pawan Chamling, Hon’ble Minister Shri Mukul Roy, and a galaxy of other dignitaries and you ladies and gentlemen.

Sikkim is a land locked State with three international frontiers - Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) of China, Nepal and Bhutan. For far too long the only access to the State from the rest of the country has been the National Highway 31A. Unfortunately, this vital life line has frequently witnessed numerous blockades during strike and bandhs in the neighbouring region and occasional bottlenecks due to landslides in the rainy season.

It has been the ambition of the people and the Government of Sikkim to have a dependable connectivity with the rest of the country and the world by road, rail and air and the internet.

Fortunately, for me and for the State that during the period of my stay in Sikkim, some momentous steps have been initiated in this behalf.

On 28th February of this year, we had the formal commencement of the work at the Pakyong Airport. The work is currently going on in full swing and by January 2012 the Pakyong Airport will be fully operational.

As regards the alternative road link, the project linking Chalsa (Kunya More) in West Bengal to Menla (Gangtok-Nathula Road) in Sikkim has been approved by the Government of India. Further, work on the double lanning of the NH-31A has also commenced.

Sikkim is connected to the internet. Taking advantage of this, we have provided computers in schools, colleges, offices, etc. However, presently there is only one optical fibre line between Siliguri to Gangtok and beyond. The second optical fibre line is being provided as an alternative but this has not yet been commissioned.

Considering the terrain and the topography, it would be advantageous to have one high capacity micro-wave wireless system in place from Gangtok to Siliguri and to connect all the four districts in the State. Presently, a low capacity micro-wave system exists but this is not able to handle the load when the existing optical fibre connectivity line breaks down. The Government of India may urgently move in this direction.

Today of course is the historic day for the rail project. The Sikkim railway project is being taken up as a national project. In the first phase Rangpo will be linked to Sevoke station and in the second phase the line will be extended upto the capital town, Gangtok. We would like the rail line to go upto Nathu La in due course.

Locational survey for the rail line upto Rangpo is being taken up and due to be completed by December, 2009.

It is also understood that the first phase is targeted for completion by the year 2015. We in Sikkim there will have the opportunity to travel by rail to and fro to Siliguri and beyond. This will make our journey much more comfortable and faster.

This broad-gauge rail link would bring about a tremendous change in the economy of the State by bringing down the cost of transportation and spurring industrial activities.  It is also likely to have far reaching spin offs for business and tourism. 

We are deeply grateful to Hon’ble Railways Minister Kumari Mamata Banerjee for taking up this matter of rail link with Sikkim in right earnestness and recognize her gracious presence at Rangpo this morning.

This has all been possible on account of the vision and commitment to link Sikkim with the rest of the country and the world by our respected Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and other members of the Union Cabinet.

Last week a religious person came and mentioned about his prayers for peace and prosperity of Sikkim and presented to me a copy of the sundarkand of Ramcharitmanas of Sant Tulsidas. As readers of Ramayana would recall that in sunderkand there is mention of two brothers Nal and Neel who had rare gift under which even a piece of mountain, if they touched, would float in water. It was with the assistance of Nal and Neel that the mission of Lord Rama and his army to cross the ocean to reach Lanka was achieved.

Having served long in the service of the Government, I am aware of several Nal and Neel in the Indian Railways. I am sure it shall be possible for the engineers and workmen of the Indian Railways to cross the mountains and succeed in linking Sikkim with West Bengal by a rail line. As we all know, two days ago the Prime Minister inaugurated the railway line at the high mountains in Kashmir Valley.

I hope and believe that under guidance of the Hon’ble Railways Minister it shall be possible to achieve Sevoke-Rangpo-Gangtok rail line in this eastern Himalayan region within the stipulated time-frame.

We are immensely grateful to the Hon’ble Vice-President of India and Smt Ansari  for finding time to initiate this historic event. 

                                           Thank you.