Tarakeswar-Bishnupur rail link faces land hurdle

Kolkata: The completion of the Tarakeswar-Bishnupur link by Railway faces land acquisition-related bottlenecks. According to Eastern Railway, the 82.47 kilometres of the new line project is almost complete and only a stretch of 950 metre of track laying at Bhabadighi area is still pending.

The villagers of Bhabadighi area are cooperating, ER stated, but about 0.78 acres of land are yet to be handed over to Railways for completing the track laying work. “The Calcutta High Court has already issued an order in favour of land acquisition in this area and there are no legal bottlenecks but unfortunately Railways are yet to get the total area required,” Eastern Railway stated.

The Bhabadighi water pond has an area of 17.48 acres from where only 3.05 acres of land is required for laying the railway track in this area. Among 268 persons having land stake hold, Railways has received land from 191 persons but land from 77 persons is pending. Several meetings were organised with the state authorities as well as with local people and Railway is expecting that an amicable solution will soon come up.

In this section, at present, trains are running up to Goghat from Tarakeswar end and up to Maynapur from Bishnupur. According to the Railway, it is a key project which can revolutionise the socio-economic condition of Tarakeswar and the adjacent areas. Reformation work is already taking place at Tarakeswar station under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme with an investment of 24.4 crore.

“Tarakeswar area has been deprived from adequate economic growth due to land lock in respect of railway communication as the Tarakeswar – Bishnupur link is yet to be completed due to land acquisition related bottlenecks,” Eastern Railway stated.