Agartala: The President of India Droupadi Murmu accompanied by Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Thursday flagged off the extension of the Guwahati-Kolkata-Guwahati train up to Agartala and the extension of Agartala-Jiribam-Agartala Jan Shatabdi Express up to Khongsang of Manipur from Agartala station.
Murmu hoped the extension of express trains’ service by the Northern Frontier Railway (NFR) would further strengthen the surface connectivity in North-Eastern states.
Highlighting the development initiative of the respective state governments of the region with the support of Centre, she believed that Northeast would soon turn into a preferred destination for the people of the other parts.
All means of communication – highways, internet ways, airways and railways have gotten a boost in the region in recent years and the transformation of Northeast is quite visible now the pace of development will get impetus in the coming days.
The region, especially Tripura, has great importance to get easy access to Southeast Asia and more progress in infrastructure in the region are on cards, she pointed out.
The president expressed satisfaction over the development activities in the state and the region as well while urging the government to focus on the last persons of the society so that the fruits of development and indicators of growth would be more vibrant and meaningful.
Dr Saha described the development of the Narendra Modi led government at the centre for Tripura over the last 7-8 years for North-east specifically for Tripura.
He said there was a time when moving out from the state was the biggest challenge, as only air connectivity was the most sustainable mode of transportation.
The people used to avail strenuous buses for more than a day through high terrain to Guwahati to continue the forward journey. Now, the Modi government has provided trains for all major Indian cities and local train service and gradually the fleets are increasing day by day,” Dr Saha said.
According to NFR officials, the weekly special trains with 14 coaches will stop at New Karimganj, New Haflong, Guwahati, Goalpara Town, Kokrajhar, New Coochbehar, Kishanganj, Katwa, and Bandel before reaching Kolkata.
The express train will leave Agartala every Wednesday morning and arrive in Kolkata in the afternoon the following day.
Every Sunday, the train would leave Kolkata in the opposite direction and arrive in Agartala on Tuesday night.
Murmu arrived here on Wednesday and inaugurated Tripura Judicial Academy, laid the foundation for National Law University at Narsinghgarh and six other projects.
She was accorded a civic reception by Agartala Municipal Corporation here in the evening. She left for Guwahati by an Air Force craft onward to Delhi in the afternoon.
