By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday directed that immediate steps be taken to maintain supply of essential commodities to the northeast following damage to a crucial railway bridge that links states in the region.
An emergency meeting was convened by Principal Secretary to the prime minister, T.K.A. Nair, to take stock of the position of essential supplies to the northeastern states after a railway bridge on the main Lumding-Badapur arterial route collapsed.
The supply of essentials to Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and parts of Assam has been suspended since Monday following collapse of the bridge leading to a goods train accident that killed seven people.
The North East Frontier Railway (NFR) has cancelled all trains operating on the Lumding-Badarpur route, which is the lifeline for Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and southern Assam.
The meeting was attended by officials of the ministries of railways, food and public distribution, petroleum, road transport and home, besides the Assam government representatives.
The state government apprised the officials of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) that there was no cause for alarm as there were sufficient stocks of essential commodities including foodgrains, petroleum products and other items in the northeastern states.
However, Nair directed that alternate routes identified for movement of goods be kept open round the clock with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) setting up control centres on the identified highways.
The railways have been asked to put in place necessary trans-shipment for freight and passenger movement in consultation with state government of Assam.
Assam police and BRO have also been directed to ensure that adequate checks are made to ensure there is no overloading as this could damage bridges.
The Assam chief secretary has been asked to hold weekly meetings with the concerned agencies to review the relief operations and keep PMO informed of the steps taken by the state government.
This was a follow up to the meeting that Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Santosh Mohan Dev had with the prime minister Monday to apprise him of the problem, an official release said.