Agartala, April 21, 2023: The union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is likely to visit Tripura in July next for unveiling the foundation stone of converting Agartala Railway Station at Badharghat into a modern international standard rail station with sophisticated facilities, said Tripura Transport minister Sushanta Chowdhury in a press conference at Agartala city on Friday.
Chowdhury met with Vaishnaw at New Delhi on Wednesday last and apprised him about the upcoming requirements for the betterment of railway infrastructure in Tripura and neighbouring country Bangladesh.
Citing the grounds of boosting the cordial relation with neighbouring Bangladesh and open new windows of business with Southeast Asian Countries, he said “I have informed the union minister that the Agartala-Akhaura new rail link project is about to complete as 85 percent work in Tripura’s side and 73 percent work in Bangladesh’s side. He called up union DoNER minister G Kishan Reddy for releasing Rs 150 crore. Reddy’s reply was positive. It is expected that the construction work of this new railway link project will be completed within September next.”
Mentioning about the worthiness of railway link between Pecharthal and Dharmanagar in North Tripura district and Kailashahar in Unakoti district, minister said “Letters addressing union Railway minister have been written by the former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and incumbent Chief Minister Prof Dr Manik Saha for the railway connectivity between Pecharthal, Dharmanagar and Kailashahar with sincerity. Accordingly, the same has been brought to the attention of Vaishnaw about the necessity of it in this state. The union minister had directed Railway officials to expedite the work. However, the surveying is on the verge of completion and a proposal worth Rs 1855 crore for this project has been sent to the Railway Board.”
“Another proposal has been placed before the union Railway minister to transform the Agartala Railway Station at Badharghat as international standard with sophisticated facilities like escalators, etc. A consultancy firm has been appointed for preparing the detailed project report spending an amount of Rs 24 lakh 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”, Tripura minister Chowdhury told reporters.
