Silchar: The Silchar railway station in southern Assam’s Cachar district is set to receive a facelift, with the Railways’ Ministry allocating Rs 250 crore for the revamp of the station.
Located at Tarapur, Silchar railway station is one of the oldest in the country, having been built by the Assam Bengal Railway, a railway company in British India. Currently, trains operate to various destinations in India from Silchar, including Delhi, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Patna, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, and Agartala, among others.
The chairperson of the Indian Railways’ passenger amenities committee (PAC), P. K. Krishnadas, said at a news conference in Silchar on Thursday evening that the railway ministry has planned to revamp the Silchar rail station with airport-like facilities, and an amount of around Rs 250 crore has been sanctioned for the same.
“The detailed project report will be sanctioned in 2023, and the first phase of the redevelopment work will be completed in 2024. After the redevelopment of the rail station, passengers will have access to airport-style facilities,” Krishnadas said.
He said that Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy, MLA Dipayan Chakraborty, and the Cachar district BJP committee had previously submitted a proposal seeking the redevelopment of the Silchar railway station, which led to the rail ministry giving a green signal for the project.
Talking about other rail stations, the PAC chairperson said that the railway ministry has allocated Rs 280 crore and Rs 200 crore for the redevelopment of the Guwahati and Rangia rail stations, respectively. He also mentioned that the railway ministry has sanctioned Rs 17,000 crore for the revamping of 52 rail stations across the country, and the projects will be completed by March 2024.
EASTMOJO PREMIUM
Help sustain honest journalism.
Silchar MLA Dipayan Chakraborty had also submitted a memorandum to P. K. Krishnadas on Thursday, demanding the introduction of new trains, an increase in the frequency of trains from Silchar rail station, and overall infrastructure development of the rail station. In response to this, Krishnadas said at the news conference that the demands would be considered.
Sources said that an 11-member PAC team led by P. K. Krishnadas conducted inspections at the Guwahati and Rangia rail stations on Wednesday. On Thursday, the team inspected the Badarpur rail station in Barak Valley (southern Assam) and Jiribam station in Manipur. The team carried out inspections at Bhairabi rail station in Mizoram and Agartala rail station in Tripura on Friday.
Also Read | Fact-Check: Images of woman ‘raped’, ‘put in freezer’, not from Assam
