AGARTALA, Oct 6 � Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey today sharply criticised the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) authorities for showing disregard to Chief Minister Manik Sarkar�s request to run special trains during Durga Puja.
Dey while speaking to mediapersons at the Civil Secretariat here said that the government had to use special buses in Agartala-Dharmanagar, Agartala-Kailashahar and Agartala-Kanchanpur routes during the Puja days with special permits. And few buses were hired from Assam to bridge the communication crisis as well, he said.
On the train service in the Agartala-Karimganj route, Dey said that the decision to withdraw four pairs of trains in the Agartala-Lumding route and introduce one pair of train between Agartala and Kumarghat in the meantime was a direct act of insult.
�Chief Minister Manik Sarkar had requested the NFR authorities to take up BG conversion till Karimganj at the least keeping in mind the communication bottleneck. But they don�t have the barest courtesy of acknowledging receipt of his letter�, Dey said adding that the NFR officials informed the State Transport Secretary through a text message on his cell phone about their inability to comply with the request.
He added that the decision to withdraw the passenger trains in the route were acts of disrespect depriving and insulting for the State and its people.
Transport Minister Dey further urged to start Broad Gauge (BG) conversion in Agartala-Lumding segment at one go instead of the current two phase model.
