From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to boost Tripura’s connectivity with neighbouring Bangladesh for better bilateral ties.
Sarkar, who called upon the Prime Minister at his official residence in New Delhi on Wednesday, mentioned that the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in January 2010 provided an opportunity to re-establish the old links.
Both sides had agreed upon four key issues – providing access to Chittagong Port, declaration of Ashuganj as a port of call and allowing multi-model transportation, Agartala-Akhaura railway link and operationalizing Sabroom-Ramgarh LCS by constructing a bridge over the Feni river.
“However, the progress in implementation of these agreements during the last three years has been rather slow,” Sarkar told the Prime Minister.
“The Centre needs to adopt a more proactive approach towards Bangladesh so that things could move faster. Improved connectivity with Bangladesh shall benefit not only Tripura, but the entire Northeast region.”
In the meeting, the Chief Minister also mentioned the tardy pace of rail linking projects in Tripura.
“The work of broad-gauge (BG) rail link on the Lumding-Silchar section has been progressing at a painfully slow place. Even the fund allocation the Railways Ministry for the project is grossly inadequate,” he stated.
Sarkar also made the Prime Minister aware about cloud over Indo-Bangla rail link – Agartala-Akhaura.
“The Ministry of Railways needs to take proactive steps for expediting implementation of the Agartala-Akhaura rail link project which is extremely important for improving connectivity between Tripura and Bangladesh,” he said.
In the course of the meeting, Sarkar also took up the issue of Reang refugees lodged in six relief camps in Unakoti’s Kanchanpur subdivision.
“The long stay of refugees has given rise to various socio-economic and law and order problems in Tripura. We do hope the Centre will take appropriate step so that refugees could return to their homeland – Mizoram – with dignity at the earliest,| he said.
Sources claimed the Prime Minister, who has given a patient hearing to Sarkar, assured he would look into issues at the appropriate level.
