CHAPTER -XIII
Transport, Communication and Tourism

13.1.0 Assam being the gateway to the other States of the North Eastern Region of the Country, the need for development of transport and communication sector in the State is of vital important for speedy economic development of the region. Due to its geographical isolation transport has been a major bottleneck in the process of economic progress of the State. The existing infrastructures and facilities of transport and communication in the State are hardly adequate enough to meet the requirements. The State is no doubt served by all the modern means of transport viz., roads, railways, waterways and airways but there is enough scope for further improvement of the facilities. The position of the State with regard to the existing means of transport and communications is described briefly in the following paragraph.

ROADS:

13.1.1 In Assam Public Works Department is mainly responsible for maintenance and development of the infrastructure of the road communication of the State. As per information made available by the State PWD some major achievements under the Department during the last five years i.e. from 1999-2000 to 2003-2004 (covering upto November, 2003) are shown below:

13.1.2 The total length of roads under Public Works Department (PWD) in Assam was 34422.620 Kms (including 2044.000 Kms under National Highways) at the end of 2002-2003. Out of the total PWD Roads length only 925.200 Kms (27 per cent) were surfaced roads and the rest 25171.420 Kms. (73 per cent) were unsurfaced roads. The road length under Public Work Department in Assam for three years are shown in Tables 13.1

TABLE – 13.1
LENGTH OF ROADS UNDER PUBLIC WORKS DEPARMTENT IN ASSAM
(In Kms.)

The District wise position of PWD Road Length in Assam as on 17-10-2003 may be seen at Table – 13.2

TABLE – 13.2
DISTRICTWISE PWD ROAD LENGTH AS ON 18.10.2003
(In K.M.)

Besides the Public Works Department, the Municipal Corporation/ Boards as well as the Town Committees of the State also maintain roads under their respective jurisdiction. The table 13.3 shows the District-wise Roads Length under the Municipal Corporation Boards and Town Committees in Assam.

TABLE – 13.3
DISTRICT-WISE LENGTH OF ROADS UNDER MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS/ BOARDS
AND TOWN COMMITTEES IN ASSAM, 2002
(In K.M.)

ROAD TRANSPORT:

13.2.0 The most important means of communication for the movement of goods as well as passengers traffic in the State is road transport. In the road transport system of the State both public and private sector operators are playing equally important role. The Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC), a State Government undertaking is mainly concerned with the movement of passenger traffic on the nationalized routes of the State, while the private sector road transport operators are involved in the intra-State movement of both goods and passenger traffic throughout the State. As a step towards improvement of passenger amenities the State Government has taken up the task of construction of an inter-State Bus Terminus at Gorchuk to facilitate inter-State transportation of passengers.

ASSAM STATE TRANSPORT CORPORATION (ASTC):

13.2.1 The "State Transport" was started by the Assam Government in the year 1948 with 4 Nos. of buses initially operating between Guwahati and Nagaon. Gradually the Transport Network was expanded by the Government and the erstwhile "State Transport" was converted into a Corporation viz. the "Assam State Transport Corporation" on 30.03.1970 with the objective for providing economical and coordinated transportation to the commuters. Since, then ASTC has crossed a long period of time but it had to fend with certain constrains like overstaffing, uneconomic fare structure, mushroom growth of private buses, providing services on social obligation at the cost of economic losses etc. These factors had led to gradual deterioration of the Corporation and reached such a stage that its closures were seemed inevitable. However, during the year 2001 the State Government has taken some dynamic steps for revival and re-organisation of the Corporation as mentioned below:

(i) Introduction of "Voluntary Retirement Scheme" with fund provided by the Government. A total Nos. of 1781 employees availed voluntary Retirement thereby saving around Rs 80.00 lakh per month on Salary.

(ii) Implementation of "Self Employment Scheme 2001". The private Buses are taken in for operation under ASTC and so far more than 1100 Nos. of such Buses have been registered under the scheme. An amount of Rs 78.00 lakh (Approximately) is generated as revenue from these Buses on an average per month.

(iii) Repairing of shut-down Buses and purchasing of new Buses. The ASTC is now operating a fleet of 280 Nos. of Buses of its own with increased revenue return.

(iv) A scheme for providing "Scratch Card" is introduced to attract the passengers purchasing ticket worth of Rs 75.00 or more in ASTC Buses and Private Buses under ASTC. The Scheme is helping immensely in generating better revenue.

(v) The scheme for advertisement on bus bodies and hoarding at prime location with commercial utilization of spaces has been taken up by the ASTC for generation of revenue.

(vi) The cargo and courier services have been started. Thus, the ASTC has generated employment avenues for about 6000 unemployed youth through the above schemes and services.

13.2.2 As per data available, the total road length covered by the Assam State Transport Corporation is 8130 kilometres. The fleet strength of ASTC was 396 in 2002-2003 which comprised of 372 Buses, 16 Trucks, 4 Cars, 2 Tankers and 1 Crane. The average number of passengers travelled daily was 1.30 lakh during 2002-2003 against 1.02 lakh during 2001-2002. The earning per kilometre was reported to be Rs 11.09 in 2002-2003 as against Rs 8.54 in 2000-2001. The average income per month was also reported at Rs 10.00 lakh during 2000-2001, which increased to Rs 35.00 lakh per month during the year 2002-2003. Further the monthly income from other sources like Cargo/Courier Services and Rental/Advertisement etc of the order of were of the order of Rs 1.10 lakh and Rs 6.16 lakh respectively during the year 2002-2003.

13.2.3 A rapid increase of the number of Motor Vehicles on road in Assam has been observed over was 7 (seven) per sq. km during 2001-2002. The total Nos. of different types of Vehicles on roads in the State was 588259 at the end of 2001-2002, about 51.8 per cent was Two Wheeler and the rest 48.2 per cent comprised of Motor Cars, Jeeps, Buses, Trucks etc. The growth in the No. of vehicles on road in the State may be seen from the Table – 13.4.

TABLE – 13.4
NUMBER OF VEHICLES ON ROADS IN ASSAM

13.2.4 The total revenue earned by the Department of Transport during the year 2001-2002 an 2002-2003 were Rs 102.23 crore and Rs 128.81 crore respectively and thus the increase in revenue collection was 26.0 per cent in 2002-2003 over the previous year. In the current year an amount of Rs 68.25 crore has already been collected upto September ’03 as against Rs 56.78 crore earned in during the corresponding period of 2002-2003. Further provision of Permit Fees has been incorporated under the new Assam Motor Vehicle Rules, 2003 and an amount of additional revenue of Rs 5.00 crore is expected through the Permit Fees in the current financial year.

Besides, to provide fast and comfortable services to the commuters of the Greater Guwahati, and to create self-employment among the unemployed youth, Trekkers Services have been introduced recently.

The Department has also proposed to computerise all check gates and District Offices to maintain proper records of revenue collection, registration of vehicles, issue of driving licences etc.

RAILWAYS:

13.3.0 The railway route length in Assam at the end of 2001-2002 was 2516.25 kilometres comprising 1185.78 kilometres under Broad Gauge and 1330.47 kilometres under Metre Gauge. These route length of railways remained same during the current year also. The proportion of Broad Gauge route length to the Railway Route works out at 47.1 per cent for the State. Taking into account the total Railway route length of 63028 kilometres for the country as a whole during 2000-2001 Assam’s share in the country’s railway route length turns out to be 3.99 per cent during the year.

13.3.1 Various developmental activities in the Railway sector continued to be undertaken in the State including extension of railways line. During the last couple of years a good number of new passenger trains were introduced to connect different places within the State viz., inter-city trains linking Guwahati and Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Jorhat, Nagaon, Bongaigaon and Farkiragram, apart from daily trains between Lumding and Badarpur. The Railways run a number of inter-State trains linking Guwahati and Dibrugarh with other important places of the country, such as Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Tiruvantapuram, Coochin, etc. The three bridges at Saraighat, Kaliabhomora and Pancharatna across the river Brahmaputra have greatly facilitated the surface communication system in the State. The bridge named Naranarayan Setu, linking Pancharatna in the South and Jogighopa in the North was opened in 1998. The Saraighat and Naranarayan Setu are Rail-cum-Road bridges while the Kaliabhomora is only a road bridge. With the completion of the Naranarayan Setu, and the construction of railway track along the south bank of the Brahmaputra linking Guwahati with Pancharatna has eased the transport problem and also resulted boost up of economic activity in the south bank of lower Assam.

INLAND WATER TRANSPORT:

13.4.0 The Bramaputra and Barak are the two most important navigable rivers of Assam. There area also numerous tributaries of these two rivers, which are navigable by country boats. The Brahmaputra has already beer declared as No. 2 National Waterways. At present, two public sector organisations, viz. the State Directorate of Inland Water Transport (IWT) and Central Inland Water Transport Corporation (CTWTC) are operating water transport services between Guwahati and Kolkata exclusively for movement of goods.

The Department of Inland Water Transport, Assam is operating 61 number of Ferry Services for the purpose of public utility. These Ferry Services carried around 30.91 lakh Passengers and 2.82 lakh M.T. Carge everyday during 2001-2002. The Department has earned revenue worth Rs 114.43 lakh in 2001-2002 against Rs 121.94 lakh revenue earned in 2000-2001 through running of these Ferry Services.

AIR TRANSPORT:

13.5.0 Assam is well connected with the rest of the country through Air Transport. The Sttae has the highest number of civil airports and these are Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airprot at Guwahati, Salonibari, at Tezpur, Rowriah at Jorhat, Mohanbari at Dibrugarh, Lilabari at Lakhimpur and Kumbhiragram at Silchar. The Lilabari Airport in Lakhimpur District was renovated recently to facilitate air traffic moement of nearby District of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Besides, the Indian Airlines there are several other private commercial airlines services such as Sahara, Jet Airways etc. have been operating services to and from Guwahati, Kolkata, Delhi and some other places of North Eastern Region of the Country during the last couple years.

POSTAL SERVICES:

13.6.0 The Postal and Telecommunication facilities in the State have been growing steadily in recent years. The Assam Postal Circle created in the year 1958 with Headquarter at Guwahati serves the entire State of Assam. There are 9 Postal Divisions and 2 RMS Divisions to serve the 23 Revenue Districts of Assam. According to information available the total number of Post Offices in the State was 3978 at the end of 2001-2002 as against 3942 Post Offices during the year 2000-2001, of which 3978 number of Post Offices were located in rural areas and 286 number in urban areas. There are 3 Night Post Offices in the Circles comprising Guwahati GPO Dibrugarh HPO and Silchar HPO. The average area and population served per Post Office in the State works out to the 20.05 K.m. and 5844 Nos. respectively during 2001-2002. The coverage in Kilometres by Postal Communication Network by different modes of Postal Mail conveyance viz. Railway, Waterways, Motor, Runner and other means is reported at 34172 Kms. To extend better facilities to the customers, the Speed Post Services with 4 National Centre, 90 Booking Counter and 22 State Point-to-Point Centre are functioning under the Assam Postal Circle. During the year 2001-2002, the postal revenue of Rs 20.91 crore was realised under Assam Circle as against Rs 18.00 crore realised during 2000-2001. A total of a 6 Head Post Offices and 200 Sub-Post Offices serving under the Circle have been modernized upto the year ending 31.03.2002 with installation of Multi-purpose Counter Machines (MPCM).

13.6.1 The Assam Telecom circle was formed in January 1987 after bifurcation of the erstwhile North-Eastern Circle. The Headquarters of the circle is located at Guwahati. As on 31^st March 2003 the No. of telephone Exchanges in the State stands at 567, of which 153 are located in urban areas and 414 in rural areas. The telephone density in the State measured in terms of coverage per 100 population is found to be 1.84 in Assam as against 3.8 at all India level. There were nearly 4.79 lakh telephone connections working in the State upto the end of March 2003. The No. of internet Stations (nodes) in the State was 14 with 9238 connections till March, 2003. The total revenue realised during the year 2002-2003 was Rs 274.44 crores.

TOURISM:

13.7.0 The State of Assam is least known for her unique natural beauty with Flora and Fauna, Historical Monuments, Pilgrim Centres, Tea Gardens and its colourful cultural festivals. The Assam tourism is mainly based on Wildlife, Tea-tourism and Historical Monuments etc.

13.7.1 Infrastructure Development:

With a view to exploit the State’s manifold tourism potential and also for the economic interests of the State, the State Government is taking various steps for development of Tourism Infrastructure in the State. During the last two years, 14 (fourteen) such tourism infrastructure projects are reported to have been completed with total investment of Rs 489.06 lakh. Some of the projects are as mentioned below.

1) Upgradation cum expansion of tourist facilities at Kaziranga.

2) Construction of tourist complex at Rajib Gandhi Wild-Life Park at Orang, Assam.

3) Upgradation of Tourist lodge, Guwahati.

4) Upgradation cum expansion of Tourist facilities at Bhalukpung.

5) Tourist Resort at Biswanath Ghat.

13.7.2 On going project

As many as 23 Nos. of infrastructure Projects with total outlay of Rs 1465.00 lakh are in various stages of implementation. A brief account of some of the such major projects are given below.

13.7.3 Vision for the Future

During the Tenth Five Year plan period beginning form 2002-2003, the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India have introduced by following three new schemes.

(i) Integrated Development of Tourism Circuit.

(ii) Integrated Product, Infrastructure and Destination Development.

(iii) Rural Tourism.

(i) Integrated Development of Tourism Circuit

Under the scheme the Government of India had identified 6 (six) Eco-Tourism Circuit in the country and North East Circuit is one of them which includes places viz. Guwahati, Kaziranga, Majuli, Sibsagar, Tezpur. Bghalukpung in Assam, Shillong in Meghalaya, Kohima in Nagaland and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Government of India has sanctioned Rs 242.00 lakh for the following projects during 2002-2003.

(a) Brahmaputra River from Development at Guwahati.

(b) Development of Ethnic Village at Bhalukpung, Tezpur.

(c) Camping Site at Kohima Ranga, Kaziranga.

(d) Road Signages of Assam

(ii) Integrated product, Infrastructure and Destination Development:

This Scheme related to the identification of Tourism Destination or Product in the State. The Assam Government has submitted the detailed project report for Integrated Development of Heritage & Eco-Tourism at Majuli under this scheme. The Government of India had sanctioned Rs 382.25 lakh against the scheme and Rs 325.21 lakh have already been released during 2002-2003 as Central Financial Assistance.

Rural Tourism:

Under this Scheme, the Government of India has released Rs 14.04 lakh to the State Government out of sanctioned fund of Rs 46.83 lakh for promotion of rural Tourism to exhibit the art culture and heritage of rural life.

Public Private Partnership:

13.7.4 Tourism is one sector, which cannot grow and sustain with Governmental efforts alone. It requires private initiative for investment and promotion. The State Government has endeavoured to intensify private sector investment and participation in management and development of the project already set up and also for establishment of new projects. Keeping in view these objectives, the Assam Tourism Development Corporation (A.T.D.C.) in association with private participation has taken up 32 nos. of various projects for Development of Tourism Sector in the State. Some major projects with private participation like (a) Amusement Park at Guwahati, (b) Ropeway Project at Kamakhya, (c) Eco-Tourism Project at Bhalukpung and Manas, (d) Luxury Cruise Vessel Project between Kaziranga and Guwahati, (e) International Trade and Tourism Centre at Paltanbazar are in various stages of implementation. The Central Government has sanctioned Rs 200.00 lakh as project cost of Luxury Cruise Vessel Project between Kaziranga and Guwahati and have released Rs 179.33 lakh to the State Government.

Arrival of Tourist:

13.7.5 The volume of Tourist traffic and magnitude of revenue earning by the State over the last three years are shown in table – 13.6.

TABLE – 13.6
NUMBER OF INDIAN AND FOREIGN TOURIST TO ASSAM AND REVENUE EARNED FROM THE TOURISTS