PM Modi to commission railway line in Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to commission a railway line in Talaimannar in Sri Lanka during his two-day visit to the island nation.

The railway line, which will stretch from the Talaimannar Pier to Madhu Road, covering a distance of 60 kilometres, is an important project as it will provide connectivity for the public of Northern Province of Sri Lanka to the rest of the country.

"This project is very important to the public of northern province of Sri Lanka as it will provide connectivity for them to come to Colombo and south and vice versa. This will also have all-round development as transportation will become very easy. Dream of Northern Province will be fulfilled by commissioning of this project," IRCON executive director SL Gupta told ANI here.

Gupta also said that this particular project will enable the people to visit India within a short span.

"This project is very important as it will help in providing ferry service from Talaimannar Pier to Rameshwaram. And the public of Northern Province will be able to visit India in a very short span of two to three hours. This is also a part of the project providing inter rail connectivity among SAARC countries," he said.

"We have faced number of challenges. The biggest challenge was - this area was full of mines and lot of vegetation growth has come up. We had taken a challenge to complete this project on time," he added.

Prime Minister Modi's visit to Sri Lanka would be the first standalone prime ministerial visit to the island nation since 1987. This will also be the second summit between the two countries in a month's time, after Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena travelled to India in February.

Prime Minister Modi is also expected to discuss bilateral relations with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He would also address the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

The programme of Prime Minister Modi's two-day visit includes a visit to Mahabodhi Society in Colombo, Anuradhapura, Talaimannar and Jaffna where he will interact with the cross-section of society.

In Jaffna, he will be laying the foundation stone for the iconic Jaffna Cultural Centre.