File photo of Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu.
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu would pay a one-day visit to Tripura in the second week of October to lay the foundation stone for conversion of railway tracks from meter gauge to broad gauge.
Transport Minister Manik Dey, who met the Railways Minister in Delhi to discuss the progress of different railway projects of the state on September 23, today said the Union Minister had accepted his invitation to visit the state in second week of October. However, the date is yet to be fixed.
Mr Dey said he had requested the Union Minister to complete the BG conversion work in time keeping in mind the poor condition of national highway.
Mr Dey also requested the Union Minister to arrange running of super-fast train from Agartala after conversion of the tracks.
The Indo-Bangla rail project to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh also came up for discussion in the meeting which was attended by Executive Director (Works) of Railways, Ved Prakash Dudeja, P Guha, the Executive Director (Coaches) and Principal Resident Commissioner, Tripura Bhavan, Delhi Rakesh Sarwal. Laying stress on early release of fund for land acquisition for Agartala-Akhaura rail link, Mr Dey said he had requested the Union Minister to release 60 per cent of funds so that land acquisition process could be taken up immediately.
An amount of Rs 96-97 crore would be required for land acquisition after the NITI Aayog decided to have elevated corridor on Indian side to avoid maximum land acquisition.
Earlier, Rs 302 crore was proposed to be required to acquire 97 acres land for the Indo-Bangla rail project. MEA would fund the 15 km long Indo-Bangla rail link from Agartala to Akhaura.