PM opens Bangabandhu Bridge-Tarakandi rail route
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina waves while inaugurating the rail route between Bangabandhu Bridge (east side) and Tarakandi, Jamalpur boarding a train yesterday. The photo was taken at Bangabandhu Bridge Station. Photo: Focus Bangla
After 13 years of inauguration of construction, a much waited rail line connecting east side of the Bangabandhu Bridge (BB) with Tarakandi, Jamalpur opened for traffic yesterday heralding a new era of socio-economic development of greater Mymensingh region. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally opened the 40.20-kilometre rail route which construction began during her government past tenure in 1999 and subsequently suspended by the next BNP-Jamaat government. The rail route linking Mymensingh and a number of country's northern and eastern districts would help carrying fertiliser from Jamuna Fertiliser Factory, agricultural goods as well as easing communications with Dhaka. It would also materialise a long cherished dream of the people Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Jamalpur, Netrakona and Sunamganj districts to have railway connectivity with Dhaka. Addressing a public meeting after inauguration of the rail line, Hasina said, the Awami League (AL) after coming to power in 1996 took all initiatives to remove the barriers to construction of Bangabandhu Bridge over the river Jamuna making it into a multipurpose one. The project for connecting Bangabandhu Bridge (east) side with Tarakandi rail route was taken to reach the benefit of the bridge to the people of the region, she said. Minister for Textiles and Jute Abdul Latif Siddique and Minister for Food and Disaster Management Dr Abdur Razzak, addressed the meeting, among others, organised by Kalihati upazila unit of AL. LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Communications and Railway Minister Obaidul Qader, Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad, Land Minister Razaul Karim Hira and AL organising secretary Ahmed Hossain were present. Hasina said her government has established a separate ministry for railway aimed at development of railway network across the country. She said a commuter train service would be introduced on Dhaka-Tangail route and Dhaka-Tangail road would be made four- lane. Construction of the bridge across the Dhaleswari River would be completed by 2013, she said. She said construction of the vocational textile institute in Tangail would be completed this year. Following inauguration of the rail route, the prime minister took a journey by train from Bangabandhu Bridge (east) side station to Tarakandi station. On the way, she inaugurated two stations in Tangail, one at Bhuapur and other at Hemnagar. Addressing a separate public meeting at Gono Maidan of Sarishabari upazila of Jamalpur district yesterday afternoon, Hasina urged the party workers to reorganise the AL at the grassroots level.
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