Agartala, September 20 (TIWN): In a last attempt of securing faster gauge conversion in the Lumding-Kumarghat-Agartala segment, three Parliamentarians from Tripura - Jharna Das Baidya, Sankar Prasad Datta and Jitendra Chaudhury today wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought his personal intervention on the issue.

The letter from all three MPs of the state today told the Prime Minister that the disruption of train services during the entire duration of gauge conversion in phased manner would cause shortage of foodgrains, essential commodities, fertilizers and cements. The situation would result in disruption of constriction works of several development activities as well, the letter reads.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar earlier pursued the matter with Union Minister for Railways Sadananda Gowda on September 11 this year.

The Ministry of Railways earlier proposed to impose mega block for gauge conversion of Lumding-Badarpur-Agartala section in two separate phases.

In the first phase, Lumding-Badarpur-Silchar section (210 Km) was targeted for gauge conversion during the mega block period from October, 2014 to March, 2015.

Rail tracks in Badarpur-Kumarghat-Agartala section (227 Km) would undergo gauge conversion from October, 2015 to March, 2016.

The three Tripura MPs today proposed in the letter to Prime Minister Modi that the Ministry of Railways might take up the gauge conversion works of Lumding-Badarpur-Kumarghat-Agartala section in one phase during the mega block period starting from October, 2014. Broad Gauge (BG) rail network should be commissioned by March, 2015 in the region to facilitate least crisis, the MPs suggested.