Agartala: The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Tripura state unit on Tuesday demanded revival of an old railway connectivity project that proposed a direct railway link between Tripura and Myanmar.
Former Tripura transport minister and senior CITU leader Manik Dey said, “When Left Front was in power, a proposal was sent to the Ministry of External Affairs seeking approval of this project”.
When the Ministry was contacted, it was informed to them that the project proposal was forwarded to the railway ministry for study.
Later, the railway ministry informed CITU Tripura unit that they were looking into the project. “After that, a long time has passed but we did not see any progress related to the proposal,” he said.
According to Dey, that one project could have helped the state expand its connectivity network with six Asian countries as Myanmar has already established railway connectivity with those countries.
“This project was designed in consultation with the railway department officials. Even satellite images had also been enclosed with the project proposal. We have seen that the Jawahar Nagar station located immediately after Ambassa (the district headquarters of Dhalai district) is located 176 kilometers away from the closest Myanmar railway station situated in the Indian borders,” he said.
Even if some problems emerge in the land acquisition process, he said that the distance could have hardly increased up to 200 kilometers or so. “Our project was appreciated by the then Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. On one side we are building a railway link with Bangladesh and if this project gets a go ahead from the central government, the whole economic scenario of the state would change”, Dey told media persons.
He said that the issue was also raised during a meeting with Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha. “I have informed the Chief Minister that a project in that direction was planned and forwarded to the Centre and if they wish they can pursue the matter further”, said Dey.
The Former Minister also informed the media persons that a delegation of the CITU leaders and CPIM legislators would soon meet General Manager North East Frontier Railway (NFR) with a host of demands related to the railway services in the state.
“The railway services have been largely affected following the COVID-19 pandemic. Many trains have been discontinued during the lockdown and now, daily commuters are facing serious issues,” he said.
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Some of its demands will include two pairs of local trains for Agartala-Dharmanagar and Agartala-Sabroom route, better infrastructure in some of the key stations and improvement of services in certain areas.
These issues, he said, will be highlighted before the railway General Manager during the meeting scheduled to take place towards the end of the month.
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