Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Railway ministry has feared that development and modernization of the Ishwardi to Rooppur Rail Link in Pabna may not be completed by June 2021 due to coronavirus.
The Ishwardi Railway Junction has been used to bring equipment for the construction of a Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) but that railway junction has been neglected for a long time by different governments in the last 40 years.
Sources said the Ishwardi Junction was established during the British era. After Bangladesh became independent, the station was not modernized to meet the demand of time. The station was operating with an old building. Its platform was too low for the trains and the shades were perforated. Moreover, the waiting room was in an unhealthy condition and the toilets were dirty and unusable. Besides, the sitting arrangement for passengers at the station was inadequate, and the lines were in a dilapidated state. All these gradually turned the station into a safe haven for drug addicts, thieves, snatchers, and fraudsters.
An official of Ministry of Railways said, allocation of fund in Annual Development Programme has delayed because of spread of Covid-19 pandemic in the country. A large portion of railway lines have been constructed but the station and its space are yet to develop as the Ministry of Railways have failed to disburse the allocation of Tk 313 cr in this fiscal year (2020-21) due to different reasons including coronavirus pandemic at a recent project evaluation meeting at Ministry of Science and Technology, presided over by secretary of that ministry Md Anwar Hossain.
However, partial construction of 19 kilometer new rail tracks from Ishwardi to the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant have been completed. Development of Ishwardi railway junction and the 9 kilometer rail lines to Rooppur power plant needs to be completed in time with the construction of Rooppur power plant and operation and commissioning of that power plant, according to the project evaluation paper discussed recently at railway ministry.
An interlocking signal of Ishwardi station has been delayed due to spread of Covid-19 but the construction of bridge has been fully completed before the onset of coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Meanwhile, railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan visited Ishwardi Junction on June 22, 2019. At that time local politicians and passengers informed him about the absence of civic amenities at the station. The minister listened to their complaints and directed the General Manager of the Bangladesh Railways Western Region to mitigate their sufferings. Following his directive, the Ministry of Railways took a project worth Tk 335 crore to set up new lines and improve the quality of services at the station. Under the project, the platform has been elevated so that children, elderly and sick people can easily get on and off the trains at the station. The project at a cost of Tk 335.54 cr is scheduled to be completed within June 2021.
An Indian company GPT Infrastructure Projects Ltd is constructing 26.52km of rail lines from Ishwardi to the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in joint venture with two Bangladeshi companies namely Standard Engineers Ltd and Castle Construction Company Ltd. Initially the project cost was Tk297.55 crore which ended up to Tk 335 cr. Under the project the Ministry of Railways also constructed 13 level crossings, one B-grade station building, one platform and seven box culverts. Under the project, rail lines and platforms are being extended to accommodate 18 train coaches, repairing of existing tracks will be done and renovation of the platform, passenger sheds, toilets, waiting room, sitting arrangement, and signal system will also take place.
Managing Director of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Company Shawkat Akbar said, commissioning of the country's first nuclear plant may be delayed if Ishwardi rail link project is not completed in time.
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