AGARTALA, Sept 1 � Train services would come to a standstill on the Lumding-Silchar section from October 1 to March 31 with the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) moving forward to undertake Broad Gauge (BG) conversion works, the Tripura Assembly was informed here on Monday.
Replying to a notice moved by two treasury bench members, Transport Minister Manik Dey said it was not clear if the train services would be suspended upto Agartala due to the BG conversion work.
�We want the train services to continue from Badarpur to Agartala keeping in mind of Tripura�s isolated geographical location since it will not hamper the BG conversion work�, he said.
Putting a question mark on the will of the NFR, Dey said the State had demanded to undertake BG conversion work from Lumding to Agartala via Silchar at a time to reduce the sufferings of the people.
�Unfortunately, the NFR authority has stuck to its stand � undertaking BG conversion work in two phases leaving out Silchar-Agartala route. The NFR could have started the work at a time from Lumding to Agartala via Silchar�, he pointed out since the project has been pending since 1997-98 financial year.
As per the NFR plan, in the first phase, BG conversion work is scheduled to be taken up from October 1, 2014 to March, 2015 while the remaining portion � Silchar to Agartala will be taken up from October 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016.
A high level team of NFR led by its General Manager RS Virdhi is arriving here on Tuesday to have a meeting with Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. �In the meeting, a brain storming session is expected in the presence of Chief Minister and senior NFR officials�, he said.
Congress MLA Biswabandhu Sen sought clarification if the train service would be stopped upto Agartala due to the BG conversion work? If it happens, how the State will receive essential items from outside the State?
Dey replied, �We will seek these clarifications from the NFR officials since the State is not officially aware about its plan. However, we are trying to bring essential items through Bangladesh during the BG conversion work�.
