Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 9: The landmark railway line, for the first time connecting Northeast from Agartala in Tripura to Akhaura in Bangladesh, will be completed before the end of next year, thus paving the way for the first train from North East to Bangladesh to commence its run on the eve of the 75th year of India’s independence in 2022.
Disclosing this while briefing about some of the upcoming landmark projects in North East, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Ministry of DoNER will bear the cost of laying 5.46 Kms track on the Indian side while the cost of laying 10.6 Kms track on the Bangladesh side is being borne by the Ministry of External Affairs. The 15.6 Kms long railway link will connect Gangasagar in Bangladesh to Nischintapur in India and from Nischintapur to the Agartala railway station.
Giving details, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the process of acquisition of land and handing it over to executing agencies in both the countries has been completed and an amount of Rs. 580 crore has been sanctioned for the Indo-Bangladesh railway work on the Indian side.
Quoting engineers and experts, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the soil condition on the Indian side is soft and therefore, the latest technology is being used. Around 600 skilled workers are working round the clock to complete the work.
Referring to the high priority given to the North Eastern Region by the Modi government, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the kind of fast-track progress made in the last five years can be imagined from the fact that when this government came in 2014, the rail connectivity was very poor and there were atleast two States, namely Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, where people had never seen a train. Today, he said, there is a regular “Arunachal Express” train running from Arunachal capital Itanagar to New Delhi and a double-gauge track is being laid all across the North Eastern region. The train to Bangladesh will be one of the most glorious achievements of recent years, he said.
The work to extend air connectivity through new airports and surface transport through road networks is also proceeding at an equal pace, he added.
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