India allocates Rs 1,000cr

In a move to establish railway connectivity with Bangladesh, the Indian government has allocated Rs. 1,000 crore, equivalent to $US 153 million, for the construction of a 15.6-km rail link from Agartala in the eastern state of Tripura to Akhaura in Bangladesh.

According to Indian media reports yesterday, the government sanctioned the amount for laying rail tracks to connect Indian Railways with Bangladesh through the North East.

"We were informed by the Centre on Saturday that it has sanctioned Rs 580 crore for acquiring land and laying of five km long tracks on the Indian side," Tripura's Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik said.

The External Affairs Ministry of India had earlier sanctioned Rs 400 crore to Bangladesh for acquiring land and laying of around 10-km long track on the Bangladesh side, he said.

The project would be completed by 2017, Bhowmick said, adding, an elevated corridor would be constructed for covering 3.7 km length of the route.

Diplomatic sources said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi discussed on the project during the Modi's visit to Dhaka on June 6-7 and India would fund the entire project.

During the visit, the two countries also inked deals for seamless water, road and railway transit between the two countries and beyond.

Indian media quoting Tripura's Transport Minister Manik Dey said completion of the project would reduce the distance from Agartala to Kolkata from 1,650 km to 515 km and the difficult hilly terrain will be avoided. "This will improve trade and commerce between Bangladesh and India's North East and enhance people to people contact," he added.

Diplomatic sources further said that the two countries have taken up several projects in the railway sector under which Bangladesh and India will revive old rail links for carriage of goods and passengers alike.

The two countries have also agreed to re-establish rail connections between Chilahati-Haldibari and Kulaura-Mahishashan in the spirit of encouraging revival of old linkages and transport routes between Bangladesh and India.

Indian Prime Minister Modi during his visit to Bangladesh on June 6-7 announced that India will construct a modern International Passenger Terminal (IPT) at a suitable location to facilitate customs and immigration requirements of passengers travelling on the Kolkata-Dhaka Maitri Express and other trains that are to connect India and Bangladesh.