GUWAHATI, Feb 2: Work on railway lines connecting Kokrajhar in Assam with Bhutan’s Gelephu is expected to be completed within three years, officials said on Monday.
NFR general manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava, addressing a press conference here, said, “For Bhutan connectivity, we have two projects. One is 69-km-long from Kokrajhar to Gelephu, and the other is 20-km-long between Banarhat (West Bengal) and Samtse (Bhutan).”
Chief Administrative Officer, NFR (Construction), Hitendra Goyal, said the project in Assam is likely to be completed within three years once work commences.
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“The state government has been positive and helpful in taking forward the work,” he said.
The project in West Bengal connecting the Himalayan nation through railway tracks was facing issues, including those related to land acquisition, the officials claimed.
The West Bengal project is likely to take time as progress has been “slow”, they said.
“The land required passes through four tea gardens. The state government (in Bengal) has been slow to respond and land acquisition has become a problem. A timeframe for its completion cannot be provided at the moment,” one of the officials said.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had earlier announced the two projects, which is expected to provide a significant boost to trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.
Gelephu and Samtse are the major export-import hubs in Bhutan along the 700-km India-Bhutan border, the officials said.
Gelephu is being developed as a “mindfulness city” and Samtse as an industrial town by the Government of Bhutan, they said.
The Kokrajhar-Gelephu line has been declared a Special Railway Project, enabling fast-tracked clearances and land acquisition. (PTI)
