BY TC News Desk
Agartala, April 21, 2023: Transport minister Sushanta Chowdhury on Friday said that the union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is expected to visit Tripura in July next to unveil the foundation stone of converting Agartala Railway Station in international standard with multiple infrastructures.
Speaking to media persons at Civil Secretariat on Friday afternoon, Chowdhury said that he had meet with the union Railway minister A Vaishnaw at New Delhi and placed several demands for the betterment of Railway services across Tripura.
“In view of the Agartala-Akhaura New Rail Link Project, union Railway minister was apprised about the progress of its construction work and Vaishnaw at once rang union DoNER minister G Kishan Reddy for releasing Rs 150 crore. In reply, Reddy gave a positive signal. In Indian side, 85 percent of the work is completed while 73 percent has been completed on Bangladesh’s side. It is expected that the construction work of this new railway link project will be completed within September next and open door for business and trade with Southeast Asian countries through Bangladesh”, he added.
Chowdhury also mentioned about the significance of railway connectivity between Pecharthal, Dharmanagar and Kailashahar.
He said “The former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and incumbent Chief Minister Prof Dr Manik Saha wrote to the union Railway minister regarding this railway connectivity between Pecharthal, Dharmanagar and Kailashahar with sincerity. I have also mentioned union minister regarding its need for Tripura state. Vaishnaw had immediately directed Railway officials to expedite the work. The surveying is on the verge of completion and an amount of Rs 1855 crore for this project had been sent to the Railway Board.”
Taking a jibe at CPIM-led Left Front government’s regimes, Transport minister said that the previous state governments always befooled the common people claiming that the central government is depriving this state despite of staging repeated movements. But during the present government’s regime, there is no need to doing any kind of movements.
“A proposal have been placed before the union Railway minister to transform the Agartala Railway Station at Badharghat as international standard with sophisticated facilities like escalators, etc. In this regard, a detailed project report is being prepared spending an amount of Rs 24 lakh through a consultancy firm and Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is supervising it. In next 2-3 months, the foundation stone will be laid down and union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will inaugurate it”, Chowdhury told reporters.
Not only this, minister also said that the construction railway line from Belonia to Feni has also been discussed with union minister and DPR has been completed. The union minister was also apprised about the double lanning of railway tracks from Lumding to Sabroom via Agartala and the officials were directed to work fast. Moreover, he instructed the officials for construction of goods yards at Agartala, Sekerkote, Bishalgarh and Bishramganj.
The press conference was also attended by Additional Secretary Subrata Chowdhury and Deputy Secretary Nihar Ranjan Das were present.
