The newly commissioned Agartala-Akhaura railway project, linking Bangladesh and the North-Eastern states of India will cut down the time between Kolkata and Agartala.
In a written response to the Rajya Sabha during the winter session, Union Minister of Development of North East Region G Kishan Reddy signified the facts about the project shared by India and Bangladesh, the minister said that the alignment of the project has a length of 5.46 km in India and 6.78 km in Bangladesh. He also highlighted various initiatives undertaken by the government and the North East Council (NEC).
Cost of the Project
According to Reddy’s response, the cost of the Indian portion is Rs. 580 crore as per initial sanction which has been revised to Rs. 708.73 crore and funds released so far by MDoNER is Rs. 708.73 crore. The cost of the Bangladesh portion is Rs. 392.52 crore. The Bangladesh portion is funded by the Ministry of External Affairs India, and executed by Bangladesh Railway. The rail link was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on November 1 this year.
The project links Tripura’s capital Agartala to the Akhaura inland port in Bangladesh and has improved the trade facility between both countries.
Kolkata to Agartala via Dhaka?
At present, the rail route between Kolkata and Agartala is 1600 km and it takes 38 hours to cover this distance, majorly due to the geographical separation between the cities by entire Bangladesh. However, with better ties, a straight network between Kolkata and Agartala through Bangladesh can be practical. Maitree Express runs five days a week between Kolkata and Dhaka, covering 400 km. While it takes 9 hours to complete the journey, an average express train in Bangladesh takes 3 hours to reach Akhaura from Dhaka. Considering these factors, it is possible to link Agartala and Kolkata together via Dhaka and reduce the train journey from 38 hours to barely 12 hours or less shortly.
North Eastern Council
The answer also stated various initiatives undertaken by the North Eastern Council (NEC) as the regional planning body for the North Eastern region, such as the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Shillong, North East Police Academy in Imphal, North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO) Ltd. Shillong, etc.
The NEC has also contributed to the critical infrastructure for the region including an 11,432 km road network, power plants worth generational capacity of 694.5 MW, a transmission and distribution network of 10,341.63 circuit km, 11 Inter-State bus terminals, 3 Inter-State truck terminals, and renovation of Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Imphal, Umroi and Tezu.
