Indo-Bangladesh railway project in Tripura likely to begin end of year

Agartala, Aug 30: The steering committee meeting of Indo-Bangladesh railway project connecting Agartala with Akhaura of Bangladesh held at Dhaka in past two days indicated to start track laying work in Agartala-Akhaura railway project will likely to begin by the end of this year. Besides, officials of Bangladesh, officials of Indian Railway, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Indian Railway Construction (IRCON) and Transport Secretary of the Tripura government have also attended the steering committee meeting to review the progress of the work. The project is funded by India for constructing 15.6 km rail line in both India and Bangladesh. Officials here today said land acquisition work in Indian side was completed but there is a steady progress in the acquisition process in Bangladesh side. However, IRCON has meantime finalised the project implementation plan but yet to be vetted by the highest authorities of both the countries. According to report, more than 60 per cent of the land acquisition has been completed in Bangladesh side and out of the total required land of 67 acres, about 47 acres plots have been handed over to the Railways authority. “After completion of the land acquisition process the steering committee will hold meeting in December to review the progress of the project and finalised the beginning of the work, as foundation stone laying work has already been done last year at Agartala by both the railway ministers of India and Bangladesh,” the officials stated. MEA joint secretary, who led the Indian team in the meeting, is scheduled to visit Agartala railway station tomorrow to see the entire stretches of the proposed railway line up to Indo-Bangladesh border. Under the project, Agartala railway station is to be connected with Gangasagar railway station of Bangladesh. Ministry of Development of Northeast Region (DoNER) has already released Rs 97 crore to expedite land acquisition in both side of the border out of Rs 580 crore and Rs 16 crore has been earmarked for construction of two double lane roads on both sides of elevated corridor which is finalized to be completed within December 2017. The Ministry of External Affairs will provide a sum of Rs 1,000 crore for the construction of ten-kilometre long railway tracks in the territory of Bangladesh for the Agartala-Akhaura Railway project. UNI