Title - New rail link to boost trade

Silchar : The Centre is planning a railway link between Mahisashan village in south Assam's Karimganj district and Kulaura ' a tea-trading hub in Bangladesh ' in a bid to boost trade in the region. Railway minister Mukul Roy revealed the move in a recent official communication to the Congress MP from Karimganj, Lalit Mohan Shuklabaidya. He said the Indian foreign office had already written to the Bangladesh government seeking details of the railway network between Mahisashan and Kulaura. Roy, a Trinamul MP, said the rail link had figured in the high-level talks that were held last September when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Dhaka to convince Sheikh Hasina on the urgent need to establish more practical transit facilities from the remote areas of the Northeast to Bangladesh. If the Bangladesh government quickly sends the project report, the rail service from Mahishasan, which has been stalled since the 1965 Indo-Pak war, will get rolling after it is upgraded into broad gauge, Roy said. However, it was not revealed if the railways alone would foot the bill to improve the 108-year-old metre gauge track, which use to carry Cachar tea and timber to the mainland before Partition. One problem staring in the face of authorities in both countries is the illegal occupation of railway land on both sides of the border. Shuklabaidya has also insisted on making use of the road link between Suterkandi border checkgate, 14km west of Karimganj, for hauling goods from Bangladesh to India. He had placed the demand for the road and rail link in Lok Sabha on April 26 this year. The goods transit rail route would continue to Akhaura near Agartala, which the railways have decided to upgrade for a large sum. Last night, Shuklabaidya said the Mahisashan-Kulaura rail link would facilitate export of goods from south Assam and Meghalaya to Bangladesh. Transportation of goods such as tea, coal and forest items to other parts of India would also be more feasible owing to the low cost of railway transportation.