Tripura Govt mulls metro/ mono rail project for Agartala

Agartala: The Left Front government in Tripura has embarked on an ambitious project for high-speed internal mobility in the city and its periphery by introducing Metro or Mono rail in Agartala.
Secretary, Urban Development, Ashutosh Jindal told media here on Saturday that growing traffic congestion and declining mobility in Agartala due to increase of small and personal vehicles on the streets and inter mixing of slow and fast moving vehicles have made the situation worse.
With the estimation of decadal car growth, the state government has decided to follow the development model of big cities for underground metro rail or surface mono rail connecting about 12-15 kilometres distance within Agartala.
“We shall call for feasibility study of the proposed project from competent agencies soon and the next course of action will be decided after getting the report from the experts,” Jindal said.
He however, pointed out that vehicle growth and subsequent reduction of mobility has became a major cause of concern for the city administration now, which needs an effective dealing at policy level.
Agartala is considered to be one of the fastest growing cities in the country but traffic and internal city movement is very poor that have enraged the dwellers of late.
The state government has also failed to channelize auto rickshaws and paddle rickshaws. There is no dedicated city bus service that virtually confined the city dwellers to their homes in the evening hours.
Jindal also maintained that Union Ministry for Urban Development has recently sanctioned 100 additional buses for Tripura as a part of strengthening its public transport network.
A project of Rs.35 crore was sanctioned to the state to operationalize 100 buses for the city bus project functional in Agartala city and its suburbs.
The Ministry sanctioned 1080 buses to 13 cities across seven states of the country under its Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission project.
The government is contemplating for ‘green city’ concept seriously by introducing CNG and city solar lighting system which, in a way, has contributed a lot to the bottom-line in protecting the environment of the city and its surrounding, Jindal added. (UNI)