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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma connected Tuesday (February 3, 2026) said the projected underground obstruction nexus on the strategical 'Chicken's Neck' corridor successful West Bengal volition guarantee a unafraid proscription route, connecting the Northeast.
He said the "strategic vulnerability" of the constrictive portion of onshore should person been addressed successful the aftermath of 1971. "This is BIG. For decades, the 'Chicken's Neck' has been utilized arsenic an intimidation maneuver by anti-national forces, some wrong and beyond our borders," Mr. Sarma said successful a station connected X.
Assam CM reminds Dhaka of 2 Bangladesh ‘chicken necks’
"The projected underground obstruction nexus marks a large strategical breakthrough, creating a unafraid and foolproof proscription corridor betwixt the North East and the remainder of the country," helium added.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had connected Monday (February 2, 2026) said plans are afoot to laic underground railway tracks on the 40-km strategical corridor and besides marque the existing tracks four-line.
The strategical corridor, called the 'Chicken's Neck' for its shape, is simply a portion of onshore located successful bluish West Bengal's Siliguri area, having a width of much than 20 km. The portion is sandwiched betwixt Nepal and Bangladesh, with Bhutan and China a fewer 100 kilometres away.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vaishnaw for the decision, Mr. Sarma said, "...We are taking a elephantine measurement towards mitigating this long-standing strategical vulnerability — 1 that, successful hindsight, should person been addressed overmuch earlier, possibly adjacent successful the aftermath of 1971." Mr. Sarma had earlier said that past PM Indira Gandhi "could person asked to grow the Chicken's Neck corridor" aft the 1971 war.
"She could person redrawn the representation for NE's consecutive entree to the remainder of the state and not stay babelike connected the 'Chicken's Neck' corridor," helium had said.
The CM had besides held that if India's archetypal PM Jawaharlal Nehru had not "bartered Chittagong port" with a information of Punjab with Pakistan during Partition, the Northeast would not person been babelike connected the 'Chicken's Neck'.
“The projected underground lines volition beryllium betwixt Tin Mile Haat and Rangapani railway stations successful West Bengal,” Northeast Frontier Railway officials said.
“One of the lines volition spell towards Bagdogra successful West Bengal, captious for the aerial defence mechanics of the country,” they said.
