Title - Parl panel arrives to assess Rail Proj

Imphal : To assess the progress of the developmental works being taken up in the State including Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal Railway project, a team of Parliamentary Committee on Estimates comprising 25 MPs headed by Francisco Sardinha as chairman landed here today.A meeting to discuss issues related to the railway and textile projects in the State has been convened tomorrow where Chief Minister O Ibobi would also take part.
The 25-member team of the Parliamentary Committee on Estimates arrived in the afternoon after visiting various other States as a part of their study tour programme.
The team has started off their journey from Bhubaneswar on September 25. Inner Manipur MP Dr T Meinya is also part of the team. Other notable members in the team include  Bijoya Chakraborty, Khogen Das, Pramodh Panda, Dr Vinay Kumar, S. Semmalai, Radha Mohan Singh and Om Prakash Yadav.
The visiting Parliamentary penal would attend a meeting at Hotel Classic at around 10 am tomorrow where Chief Minister O Ibobi and other top officials of the State Government would also take part.
The meeting would discuss in detail the progress of the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal Railway project and also the amount of the funds being utilized for the project so far.
The officials of Northern Frontier Railway, who have already arrived at Imphal, would also take part in the meeting. Northern Frontier Railway is implementing the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal rail line project, which has been declared as a National Project. The Parliamentary panel is likely to study and question how Northern Frontier Railway is implementing the rail project in the State without obtaining the required forest clearance.
It has been reported that the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal Rail project is going to affect 491.67 hectares of forest land which fall under the jurisdictions of DFO Tamenglong, DFO Jiribam and DFO Northern Forest Division.
After discussion on the railway project, the meeting would informally discuss issues related to promotion of textile industry in the State.
Soon after the meeting is over, the team is also expected to visit Loktak Lake, Govindaji temple and Khwairamband Ima Keithel, before leaving Imphal, which is the last destination of their study tour programme.
During the course of their tour, the team members had earlier discussed issues related to digging of mines and its environmental impact with the Odisha Government. They have also discussed police modernization process in Jharkhand and the issues of preserving birds in Odisha Bird Sanctuary.