Both MPs today laid stress on expedition of the works from Agartala to Akhaura by engaging reputed agencies. The Parliamentarians further requested the Railway Minister to initiate dialogue with the Government of Bangladesh in cohesion with the other Ministries like External Affairs and Home, to connect the Chittagong sea port for the benefit of the region and Bangladesh.

“Adequate stock of food grain (rice) is required to be moved for building up buffer stock in the godown space available (90,000 tons) to its full capacity before the gauge conversion is taken up. For the purpose, adequate number of railway rakes may be provided to Food Corporation of India. This is deemed necessary as the road section [National Highway: 44] linking Tripura with the mainland gets frequently disrupted during monsoon. As a matter of fact, Tripura had no road with the mainland as the Churaibari-Karimganj section of the National Highway: 44 got cut off for three days from 2nd to 5th July this year”, the memorandum said.

The mega-block for Lumding-Silchar section would be taken up from the October 01 this year and Badarpur-Agartala section would continue to be on meter gauge till September 30, 2015 and the mega-block conversion in this section would be done during October 2015 – March 2016.

The MPs further sought intervention from the railway minister saying that in the interim period till broad gauge connection was operational, specific attention should to be given for ensuring that the engine and coaches being provided in the trains to Tripura are properly maintained.

There has been frequent disruption in the existing service due to bad condition of the engine which has led to disruption in the recent past causing serious inconvenience to the public, the MPs said.