Foundation stone to be laid today

The foundation stone for Akhaura-Agartala rail track between Bangladeshi and India will be laid today.

Bangladesh Railway Minister Mujibul Haque and his Indian counterpart Suresh Prabhu will jointly lay the foundation stone at a ceremony at Agartala railway station at around 12:30pm (Indian time), an official of India's North Frontier Railway told The Daily Star yesterday.

In January 2010, during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi, the two neighbouring countries had agreed to lay the 15.54 km-long railway link between Akhaura of Bangladesh and Agartala of India.

The laying of the railway tracks are estimated to be completed by 2017.

A stretch of 10.54 kilometres of the track will be on the Bangladesh side while the rest will be on the Indian side of the border.

Manik Sarkar, Chief Minister of Tripura, Rajen Gohain, state minister for Indian railways and Harshavardhan Sringla, Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka, will also attend the programme.

Acquisition of land for the rail link has already started as funds have been released by federal government of India, said Harpal Singh, chief engineer (construction) of Northeast frontier (NF), Indian Railway.

The Agartala-Akhaura railway route will connect Indian Railways with Bangladesh Railway to improve connectivity and boost trade between the two countries.