Agartala-Deoghar Express flagged off

Union Minister Rajen Gohain and Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb today jointly flagged off the Agartala-Deoghar Express to ease the journey of devotees visit the pilgrim town of Deoghar.

Gohain, Union Minister of State for Railways, said in his address that the train would help devotees of Anukulchandra visit their Guru's ashram at Deoghar, in Jharkhand, also famous for Baidyanath temple.

He said the train would be proposed to be named the 'Satsang Express' after 'Satsang', the institution founded by Anukulchandra and the name of its head quarters in Deoghar.

Agartala-Deoghar Express would cover 1,462 km distance in 39 hours.

Gohain said railway services in the Northeast saw several developments since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government came to power at the Centre.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb thanked Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Gohain for the new train.

"The new train has been flagged off on the birthday of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Nearly 3000 devotees of Thakur Anukulchandra start for Deoghar today on the train's debut journey. People have been waiting for this service for years. The central government has fulfilled a long cherished dream of Tripura," Deb said.

Introduction of the train was the pre-poll promise of the BJP in Tripura which has around 17 lakh followers of Anukulchandra, a senior Satsang leader said.

Earlier, these followers would have to reach Deoghar via Guwahati or Kolkata, he said.

Gohain said the Centre was working to fulfill needs of the people across the country without any "mass movement".

His comments came shortly after CPI(M)'s Lok Sabha MP Shankar Prasad Dutta and Rajya Sabha MP Jharna Das Baidya told in their addresses that railway services came to Tripura after decades of 'sacrifice' and 'mass movement'.

Gohain said Tripura would emerge as the "leader of the NE" with the completion of two railway projects - Agartala-Akhaura in Bangladesh, and extension of rail track up to Sabroom in South Tripura district.

The 15.054 km long Agartala-Akhaura rail project in West Tripura district is expected to connect North-East Railways with Bangladesh Railways network by 2020.

The union minister also said rail services might be connected with Chittagong port in Bangladesh through Sabroom and, following it, huge business potential would open up in the state.

"Tripura will become the best state in Northeast India, because there would be huge business potential in the state," Gohain said.