Aug. 3: The North Eastern Council (NEC) has sanctioned Rs 11 crore for construction of a yatri niwas-cum-NEC guesthouse by the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) at Paltan Bazar.

The ASTC managing director, R. C. Jain, said the decision that NEC had sanctioned the amount on July 25 was conveyed to them recently. The amount is expected to be released within a month.

“We will start working on the project soon after the money is released and the state government gives the green signal,” Jain said.

The proposed site for the project, adjacent to the ASTC bus stand and the Guwahati railway station will provide affordable accommodation to passengers coming from different parts of the Northeast.

“The ASTC had conceived the idea to take care of the accommodation problem of those in transit. And by the time it is completed, it will be become a shopaholic’s dream,” an ASTC official said.

He said there is an urgent need for such a guesthouse as a study conducted by ASTC had revealed that the transit facilities provided by the city is not upto the mark.

Guwahati being the only metropolitan city of the Northeast has people coming from the entire region. This factor attributes to the increased floating population of the city.

The clouds of uncertainty over the project had thickened in January this year after the state government decided to set up a budget hotel in the land measuring about one-and-half bighas proposed for the yatri niwas.

The government had to reconsider its decision after the ASTC employees launched an agitation and moved court challenging the decision.

The ASTC hopes to improve its financial health with the revenue earned from the yatri niwas.