Agartala:  The Agaratala-Akhaura railway service is likely to start in September this year and it will facilitate the people’s easy journey from Agartala to Chittagong and Dhaka and vice versa. And this will also help people to visit Kolkata through immigration means. This was stated by the chief minister Dr Manik Saha during his ‘VikashTirtha’ journey to Nishchindipur railway station, Tripura’s last railway station closest to the Bangladesh border.

Standing at the railway station Chief Minister Dr Saha said that possibly there is no other railway station of comparable beauty in India and it has already been visited by the Union DoNER Minister. “The officers in charge of construction said that the task of constructing the railway station is over and now the immigration centre is under construction; it will be over in time for the railway service to begin from the month of September” said Dr Manik Saha to media persons accompanying him. 

He said that the railway track in Bangladesh is of metre gauge but we have a broad gauge track and hence facilities for both will be kept from Nishchindipur to Akhaura. After crossing the border the railway from India will reach Gangasagar and from there, anyone can reach Dhaka or Chittagong and even Kolkata though there is no direct connectivity to Kolkata. Though he said that he is unaware of any plan to run a railway train directly from Agartala to Kolkata.

Dr Manik Saha said that all this is becoming possible mainly because of prime minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Act East’ policy which is also bringing other benefits to the people of the northeastern region. The chief minister expected many other benefits to come to Tripura and the northeast at large as a result of the Modi-led central government’s policies and programmes for the benefit of the people of the northeastern region.