“Agartala-Akhaura international rail connectivity with Bangladesh would be completed within December this year” said Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Patil Danve.
The Agartala-Akhaura railway link is 15 km long and would connect Akhaura in Bangladesh(an international immigration station at Nischintapur along the India-Bangladesh international border).
Notably, the comments came three months after Bangladesh Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujon expressed dissatisfaction at the progress of work and warned the construction agency to complete pending works by December 2022 or face consequences.
After a visit Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhury at the project site to Nischintapur, Chaudhury said “I came to take stock of the progress of work… The progress of work is very good. At this rate, it will be completed very soon and connectivity with Bangladesh will be smoother”.
The project, which was earlier scheduled to be completed by December 2020, was delayed owing to land acquisition issues and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Danve had said Agartala-Akhaura project and another India-Bangladesh international railway project at Sabroom in South Tripura, work on station and lines were almost complete for the Akhaura project and added that the Union government was keeping December 2022 as the target date for completion.
