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In 2014, total 1,63,14,400 tourists had on the railway map and the rest will industry. The NH construction was at
visited Himachal Pradesh in which do so in a few years. Prabhu said and 2 km per day earlier, which has
1,59,24,701 were Indian tourists while added that the rail network in the reached 18 km under the NDA rule. By
3, 89,699 were foreigners. In 2015 till northeast will improve connectivity March next, we want to take this up
July total 1,02,71,659 tourists visited and help boost the socio-economic to 30 km per day."
Himachal Pradesh of which condition of the region.
1,00,26,439 tourists were from India Anand Sundaresan, President of ICEMA
and 2,45, 220 were foreigners. Govt to set aside Rs. 5,000 said "After four years of decline, the
cr for beautification of ICE industry is finally seeing some signs
1st passenger train runs highways: Gadkari of growth in 2015-16".
from Silchar to Lumding
The Centre plans to provide major im- Govt plans to put small
After a 19-year long wait the newly- putes for making National Highways as towns on aviation map
converted 210 km Silchar-Lumding green highways. To achieve this, the
route of the Northeast Frontier Rail- government is setting aside one per The government's move to connect
way (NFR) is thrown open for passen- cent of the cost of road construction for airports in smaller towns seems to be
ger trains. plantation, transplantation and beauti- gathering pace with around three
fication and maintenance of trees. dozen locations with existing airstrips
Railway minister Suresh Prabhu expected to be on the aviation map
flagged off a passenger train via video Addressing the 8th edition of CII's soon.
conference from New Delhi bringing EXCON 2015 (construction equipment
Assam's underdeveloped but strategi- expo), Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of While no names have been finalized,
cally important Barak Valley on the Road Transport, Highways and Shipping places such as Salem, Kota, Jaisalmer
broad gauge map. said, "The government has prepared a and even Purnea and Bhagalpur may
blueprint to provide Rs. 5,000 crore for see local players fly small aircraft un-
The Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion 5 years and this is expected to provide der a new scheme being discussed by
project was sanctioned in 1996-1997 an opportunity for the construction the aviation ministry.
and declared a National Project in equipment industry."
2004. The project was hit by insur- While the ministry would leave it to the
gency from 2006 to 2009. The line "This helps in greening the highways in operators to decide on the sectors that
passes through 21 tunnels and has 75 a short period of time and preserve the they want to fly, it is considering easier
major bridges and 340 minor bridges. environment," he added. rules and lowest possible burden on
carriers, such as doing away with the
The Union Minister of state for rail- Gadkari said the government will need to furnish bank guarantees.
ways, Manoj Sinha, and Union minister launch the Delhi-Meerut Expressway
for sports and youth affairs Sarbananda at a cost of Rs. 16,000 crore and At the same time, it is keen to ensure
Sonowal were present at Silchar rail- shortly also take up Delhi-Srinagar Ex- that the gains of connectivity are not
way station for the ceremony. pressway to reduce travel time from confined to pockets of prosperity such
the current 22 hours to 6 hours. as those in the South or West. "The
Prabhu termed the occasion as 'his- idea is to ensure a balanced spread
toric'. Conversion of the route will ac- The minister said, "I can assure the across the country," civil aviation sec-
celerate development in Barak Valley construction equipment industry that retary R. N. Choubey told, while indi-
and the states of Tripura, Manipur and it can increase its production, or even cating that there could be some caps
Mizoram, he said. Some of the state double it in the next two years as at least in the first year. The
capitals of the region already feature there will be ample opportunity for the government's strategy -which envis-
“In a downturn, aggressive PR and communications strategy is key.”
PR COMMUNICATION AGE January 2016 37
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