AGARTALA, Jan 29 (TIWN): After completion of land acquisition in April next, Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will begin its work to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Bangladesh.

Lying of tracks is delayed for non-availability of land on the 15-km proposed route, a NFR official said on Saturday. “Tripura government has assured us to complete acquisition by April. We would immediately resume work”, the official added.

Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu had laid the foundation stone for the cross-border train service project in Agartala on July 31 last year. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry Of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) will fund the entire project on both sides of the boundary. An initial fund of Rs. 100 crore has been released.

Tripura government and the NFR marked 67 acre land in 5-km stretch on the Indian side and compensation is given to owners for acquisition of mostly farmland. Ten kilometre route falls in Bangladesh and India is also funding land-acquisition costs across the border.

The official said the Indian government allocated Rs. 968 crore. Out of this, Rs. 388 crore will be spent in Bangladesh.

India has long been eying on the rail project as this would benefit not only Tripura, but the Northeast as a whole. The commissioning of project would pave easy reach of passengers and goods from landlocked region to West Bengal and other destinations.