Progress of Akhaura-Agartala rail link to be reviewed on Dec 4

Officials of External Affairs and Railways ministries would review the progress of the rail link between Akhaura in Bangladesh and Tripura's state capital Agartala on December 4.
The meeting would focus on factual achievements in land acquisition and compensation arrangements, official sources said. This would be the second meeting of the Project Steering Committee and would be held at the civil secretariat here.
The first meeting was held on May 21 in Dhaka.
New Delhi was keen to establish the rail link as it would connect West Bengal and Tripura through Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh delegation would be headed by Sunil Chandra Pal, Joint Secretary of Development & Planning and the Indian side by Alok Kumar Sinha, Joint Secretary of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the sources said.

India and Bangladesh had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on May 21 under which the acquisition of land for the first phase of work was to be completed in six months.

Bangladesh was to complete work on its side.
IRCON, an undertaking of Indian Railways, was to work as consultant and the MEA would bear the cost of the project. India sanctioned Rs 253 crore for the work.
Of the 15.054 km railway track, only five km fell on the Indian side and the rest is in Bangladesh. The tracks would be laid in meter gauge on broad gauge format so that it could be converted into broad gauge when necessary.

During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010, India and Bangladesh had agreed to lay the tracks between Akhaura and Agartala.
Meanwhile, Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey said extension of the railway line from Agartala to Sabroom, about 110 km from here, would be completed by March 2015.
Sabroom was also very close to the India-Bangladesh border and just about 70 km from Chittagong Port.