Agartala:- Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today flagged off a train to inaugurate a new 44.76-km railway line to connect Agartala with Udaipur, the district headquarters of Gomati, by video-conferencing from Delhi.
After the inauguration, Prabhu said, “Chief Minister Manik Sarkar met me in Delhi two days back. I told him that our government would carry out the necessary works for the development of Tripura as well as the north-east.”
A separate programme was organised at the Agartala railway station by the Northeast Frontier Railway ((NFR), where state Health and Family Welfare Minister Badal Chowdhury and Transport Minister Manik Dey were present among others.
Two pairs of trains would now shuttle between Agartala and Udaipur daily in the morning and evening except on Sundays, NFR officials said.
Each train will have five coaches of which four would be general compartments and the other for carrying goods. The fare has been fixed at Rs 10.
“This is an unforgettable day because rail connectivity was set up between Agartala and Udaipur today. This would usher in development in Gomati and South Tripura district,” Chowdhury said.
The Agartala-Udaipur railway track, which is being extended up to Sabroom, the southernmost town of Tripura near Bangladesh, would be completed by 2019, Chief Administrative Officer, NFR, Ashok Kumar Jadav said.
Chowdhury, the seniormost minister in the state cabinet, who hails from South Tripura district, said the Tripura government has requested the Centre to take up the issue of connecting the railway track to the Chittagong port with the Bangladeshi government.
“Sabroom is just 75 kms from Chittagong International Sea Port in Bangladesh. A bridge is being constructed over the Feni river in Sabroom to connect Chittagong with Tripura.
After the completion of the construction, Sabroom would be the gateway to the north-east,” Dey said.
PTI
