Agartala, September 08: Food Corporation of India (FCI) Chairman & Managing Director C Vishwanath would be visiting the state on September 12 to discuss foodgrain induction into the state post mega block of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) scheduled to set in from October 01 this year, official sources said.

A highly places source in the state administration today said that the FCI chief would be coming to visit the state government on strategies to induct foodgrains from the mainland. The government earlier proposed to regularize multi-modal transit through Bangladesh to ease the pressure of foodgrain and essential commodity requirement on the state during the mega block period.

The central government would soon initiate talks with the state governments of Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Assam to assess situability of the NE region on issues relating to the forthcoming NFR mega block starting October 01, official sources said.

It said that the state government had held several phases of discussions with the central government over the NH 44 development issue without any plausible action from the latter. NH 44 acts as lifeline for Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur. “We have discussed the issue over with the central government. But the NHAI is as inactive as ever. There is no initiative by Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur or the state government as well since NHAI is the designated authority for the job”, the source said.

A source in the state Public Works Department (PWD) said that there is no initiative to develop National Highway 54 connecting Silchar and Guwahati as well. Asked about the apprehended impact of NFR mega block on foodgrain induction, the source said that despite railway service is considered significant for the state, barely 30 percent of foodgrains are inducted through rail, around 20 percent petrochemicals, liquid fuel are inducted through rail. Roadways, which are still the most significant commuting system for the region, are still largely under standard quality in the NE, the source said.