BY TC News Desk
Agartala, April 11, 2023: Union DoNER minister G Kishan Reddy inspected the progress of Agartala-Akhaura new rail link project on site on Tuesday afternoon. After visiting the project, he first visited the Agartala railway station and inquired about the progress of the proposed rail link project from the concerned officials.
During the visit, he was accompanied by Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik, Chief Engineer (Construction) of North East Frontier Railway, PB Pandey and General Manager of Railway Construction Company Ircon Raman Sikhla. Besides, officials of various departments of central and state governments were also present.
After visiting the Agartala railway station, the North Eastern Region Development Minister visited Nischintpur railway station. There he met with the stakeholders in a review meeting.
After the meeting, North Eastern Development Minister G Kishan Reddy said that the construction of this rail link should be completed quickly to strengthen the friendly atmosphere between India and Bangladesh. Believing in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two principles of ‘Act East Policy’ and ‘Neighbourhood first’, the concerned should complete this task more quickly.
He said that this rail link will play an important role in the future in improving the overall development of North Eastern region, easy import and export of goods through Chittagong port, strengthening the foreign trade system and improving the communication system of North Eastern region.
The Ministry of DoNER for the construction of 5.46 km long railway line on the Indian side and the 6.78 km railway line up to the Gangesagar Railway Station on the Bangladesh side are being constructed with the grant of the Ministry of External Affairs.
He said that there are some problems related to land in Bangladesh. In this regard, there was a detailed discussion about this during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India. Union Minister expressed hope that this problem will be resolved soon.
He said that this much-desired rail link project will be auspiciously inaugurated by the hands of the Prime Ministers of both the countries. He requested the central and state government ministers to take comprehensive initiatives in this regard so that this work does not face any further obstacles.
It should be noted that the distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka will be 500 km after the completion of this rail link project. Then you can reach Kolkata in about 16 hours.
