From Our Correspondent
AGARTALA: The Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) will begin final survey for the proposed rail link between Gangasagar (Bangladesh) and Akhaura, close to Agartala very soon.
Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) of NFR, Mohan Lal who is on a two-day visit to attend a review meeting on rail works in Tripura on Monday told reporters that the survey for 11 kms railways between Gangasagar and Agartala would begin just after allocation of the money in the proposed budget.
“Soon after the confirmation of outlay, the NFR will undertake the final survey for the historic Indo-Bangla rail link. The Centre has already sanctioned Rs. 2.52 crore for laying the railways track between Gangasagar and Agartala”, he said at Civil Secretariat shortly after completion of the review meeting.
The alignment of the proposed rail-line had already been finalized after completion of joint survey he said adding that the 11 km rail link is expected to get over by next two years.
In the review meeting, discussion was held on the Akhaura-Agartala rail link, railway extension work from Agartala to Udaipur and Udaipur to Sabroom in South Tripura district.
According to the CAO, the rail extension work up to Udaipur is scheduled to be completed by June this while up to Sabroom, about 110 KM by March 2014. It is to be mentioned that the rail link between Agartala and Udaipur was supposed to be completed by end of this year but March, 2012 but got delayed due to dispute centering land acquisition.
Besides, the Broad Gauge (BG) conversion work up to Agartala is expected to be completed by December next year with work in full swing. While Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury presided over the review meeting, Transport Minister Manik Dey and Chief Secretary SK Panda were also remained present there.
Surveys for extension of the rail-link to Sabroom in southernmost subdivision of Tripura have already been done by the NFR. It may be noted that Sabroom is also very close to India-Bangladesh border- around 70km from Chittagong Port of Bangladesh.