Manmohan Singh calls for delivery of essential supplies to the North East

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has called for urgent steps to be taken to ensure the delivery of essential supplies to states in North East India following damage to a railway bridge on the main arterial route to Lumding-Badarpur on the North Frontier Railway network.

New Delhi, July 4 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has called for urgent steps to be taken to ensure the delivery of essential supplies to states in North East India following damage to a railway bridge on the main arterial route to Lumding-Badarpur on the North Frontier Railway network.

In an emergent meeting called by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, T K A Nair, took stock of the position of essential supplies in the North Eastern States this morning.

On Tuesday, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Santosh Mohan Dev apprised the Prime Minister about the damage to the bridge and the need for taking immediate action to avoid any disruption in the flow of essential commodities to Assam and other North EasternStates.

Wednesday's meeting was attended by key officials of the Ministries of Railways, Food and Public Distribution, Petroleum, Road Transport, Home, and the Government of Assam.

In the meeting, the State Government informed at present there were sufficient stocks of essential commodities, including foodgrains, petroleum products and other items, and there is no cause for any alarm.

Officials of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) assured the State overnment that the flow of foodgrains and petroleum products would be maintained.

Nair directed that alternate routes be identified for the movement of goods round the clock, for which purpose the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) would set up control centers on the identified highways.

The Railways was instructed to put in place necessary transshipment, both for freight and passenger movement in consultation with the State Government of Assam. Assam Police and the BRO have lso been instructed to ensure that adequate checks are conducted to rule out overloading by transporters so that potential damage to bridges is avoided.

Santosh Mohan Dev and Assam's Revenue Minister Bhumidhar Barman also attended the meeting.

ANI