The proposed underground rail link through the nearly 40km strategic “chicken’s neck” corridor marks a major strategic breakthrough, creating a secure and foolproof transportation corridor between the North East and the rest of the country, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his decisive leadership in helping India take a giant step towards mitigating this long-standing strategic vulnerability.
He said the “strategic vulnerability” of the narrow strip of land should have been addressed in the aftermath of 1971.
“This is BIG. For decades, the ‘Chicken’s Neck’ has been used as an intimidation tactic by anti-national forces, both within and beyond our borders,” Sarma said in a post on X.
Underground rail route
Sarma also thanked Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for the proposed underground rail link, which he said, marks a major strategic breakthrough, creating a secure and foolproof transportation corridor between the North East and the rest of the country.
On Monday, Vaishnaw announced that plans are afoot to lay underground railway tracks along the 40-km strategic corridor and also make the existing tracks four-line.
The strategic corridor, called the ‘Chicken’s Neck’ for its shape, is a strip of land located in northern West Bengal’s Siliguri area, having a width of over 20 km. The strip is sandwiched between Nepal and Bangladesh, with Bhutan and China a few hundred kilometres away.
Sarma lashes out at Indira Gandhi
Sarma had earlier said that then PM Indira Gandhi “could have asked to expand the Chicken’s Neck corridor” after the 1971 war.
“She could have redrawn the map for NE’s straight access to the rest of the country and not remain dependent on the ‘Chicken’s Neck’ corridor,” he had said.
The CM had also held that if India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru had not “bartered Chittagong port” with a portion of Punjab with Pakistan during Partition, the Northeast would not have been dependent on the ‘Chicken’s Neck’.
The proposed underground lines will be between Tin Mile Haat and Rangapani railway stations in West Bengal, Northeast Frontier Railway officials said.
One of the lines will go towards Bagdogra in West Bengal, vital for the air defence mechanism of the country, they said.
(With inputs from PTI)