Kiren Rijiju, Manoj Sinha to launch feasibility study for railway line to Tawang

Connecting the town through rail has huge strategic implications, sources in the North Block have said.

Union ministers, Kiren Rijiju and Manoj Sinha will be in Arunachal Pradesh on April 1 to give impetus to the strategically important Tawang railway line.

Tourists take a selfie in front of a frozen lake in Tawang, a strategically important point along India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. (PTI File Photo)

Rijiju, minister of state for home and Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Pradesh, and Sinha, minister of state for railways, will attend a function at Naharlagun railway station, situated around 15 kms from Arunachal capital Itanagar, commencing the feasibility study to construct the railway lines.

Tawang, which is around 200km from Itanagar, is situated at an elevation of around 10,000 feet on the Indo-China border. Connecting the town through rail has huge strategic implications, sources in the North Block have said.

Just across the border from Arunachal, China has rapidly provided connectivity to remote areas and India also needs to match up to its neighbour in terms of development and connectivity, they said.

Sinha and Rijiju will inaugurate a survey for building a broad gauge line connecting Bhalukpong with Tawang, a distance of 378 kilometres.

The other broad gauge line, which will be part of the survey, will be the 249-kilometre North Lakhimpur-Bame-Silapathar track, located between Pasighat airport and Rupa in Arunachal Pradesh.

Tawang is of immense strategic importance to India as it is located on the India-China border in Arunachal, which Beijing has repeatedly claimed is a part of Tibet. It has been routinely objecting to visits by any top Indian leader to the region.