GM of NF Railway Inspects Agartala-Akhaura Rail Project
- By Thetripurapost Desk, Agartala
- May 16, 2024
- 301
General Manager of North East Frontier Railway SK Jha inspected the ongoing railway projects in Tripura including Agartala Akhaura Rail Project.
On Wednesday, a high-level delegation including the GM took a tour of the railway line through trolley from Agartala to Nischintapur station.
In the afternoon, the delegation along with GM of NF Railway went to Sabroom. Also inquired about the ongoing construction of the railway bridge between Agartala Dharmanagar.
It is known that the railway officials have expressed their dissatisfaction with the work of slow speed. The question is how long the Agartala Akhaura Rail Project will survive only on publicity and inspection. When will the work be finished?
For the past few years, officials of the railway construction wing have been telling stories that the Agartala-Akhaura rail line will be opened soon. The question of journalists was that soon ok, but how many days?
There is no officer in the Agartala office of the North East Frontier Railway for a long time. Although there is an office in the name of Deputy Chief Engineer, there is no Deputy Chief Engineer since January 2020. Tripura Construction Branch of Railways is running with an Executive Engineer. New project is far away, the work of the current project is getting delayed year after year.
However, the railway officials considered it a complete failure. An official of the delegation, who did not want to be named, told where the pressure from the state government is. Where is the political decision? A train does not start running only when there is a line.
In 2010, an agreement was signed between India and Bangladesh for the Agartala Akhaura Rail Project. At that time, Congress-led Dr. Manmohan Singh's Govt was in centre. In the Union Budget of 2013, the first fund was allocated for the Agartala Akhaura project. The foundation stone of this project was laid in 2016. The acquisition of land up to Agartala Nischintapur station was completed by. The foundation stone of Nishintpur station was laid in September 2018.
Although six years have passed, trains have not actually started running on the completed project.
General elections in Bangladesh started in January and Lok Sabha elections in India started in April. Keeping in mind the elections of the two countries, a trial run was carried out by running an empty rake carrying goods from Gangasagar station to Nischintapur station in Bangladesh on October 30. Two days after that, the Prime Minister of India and Bangladesh announced the virtual inauguration of the railway line up to Nischintapur through the trial run.
After six months of silence, GM SK Jha of North East Frontier Railway visited with the team on Wednesday. There were railway board construction committee member Anil Kumar Khandewal, chief architect PJ Sharma, Vijay Kitke and other top officials. They returned again informing about the launch of the project very soon. There is no railway yard at Nischintapur station yet. Does anyone know where they will be kept when the cargo train arrives?
The station, which has been under construction for a long time, also needs new repairs. There are complaints of poor quality work. There is no officer to look after. Among these, the GM visited Agartala Nishintpur and Agartala Sabram projects. Dissatisfaction with the slow pace could not be suppressed.