AGARTALA, June 28 (TIWN): A 10 members’ delegation team from the Union Ministry of Railways arrived here at the state on Saturday with an aim to undertake a joint land survey for the India-Bangladesh railways extension project in wake of the construction work to kick start soon and is expected to be commissioned by 2017. Being contacted by the Additional Transport Secretary, he confirmed the report of their arrival here on Saturday at around 3:00 PM. The team comprising of the Chief Engineer of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Harpal Singh, IRCON and Container Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL) officials scheduled earlier had visited here at Agartala with an aim to conduct a joint survey of the land stretching 5 km in the Indian side and is expected to conduct a survey to the rest 10 km from the Bangladesh side. The recently held NITI Aayog meeting at New Delhi had decided that amongst the 5 km from the Indian part around 2.5 km stretched rail track would be laid overhead from the Badharghat rail station and the rest 2.5 km track would be laid in land.The team on Saturday inspected the Agartala Badharghat rail station and is expected to move to the rest part of the state where the tracks would laid after the land acquisition.The decision to have 2.5 km overhead rail track is expected to reduce the estimated expenditure for land acquisition to connect Agartala railway station with Bangladesh’s Gangasagar railway station.

 However, it has been learnt from the state transport officials here that after getting a green signal from the Union Ministry the state government would take up the land acquisition process at the earliest without any further delay.

According to the official the overhead rail track would cut the project cost which was earlier estimated as Rs. 302 crore to acquire around 98 acres of land from the Indian part. The NITI Aayog meeting earlier decided that the Ministry of Development of North east Region (DoNER) would not release any fund for the project therefore the fund would be released from the Ministry of Railway, Govt. of India.

The official said the plan to erect overhead rail track would also save at least Rs. 67 crore. The Rs.575-crore railway project was finalised in January 2010 during the Bangladesh prime minister's meeting with then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.  

Earlier it was assumed that the proposed railway project would be delayed because the Tripura Government had said, “No funds were allocated in the railway budget for 2015-16, even for land acquisition”. As per the project India will build a 15km railway tracks linking Tripura's capital Agartala with Bangladesh's southeastern city of Akhaurah, an important railway junction connected to Chittagong port, resource-rich Sylhet and Dhaka. 

However, after the railways team on Saturday completes the survey work the Ministry is expected to green signal the state government here following which the land acquisition work would be kicked off at the earliest. Tripura demanded to release 60 per cent of the proposed fund for the land acquisition.