RAJSHAHI, Jan 06: A long cherished desire of millions of people of Rajshahi will be fulfilled if a project, left abandoned for the last 108 years, is implemented.
With the construction of railway track under Rajshahi Western zone railway from Rohanpur of Chapainawabganj to Santahar junction under Adamdighi of Bogura, the plight of people of Porsha, Sapahar, Niamatpur, Patnitola, Naogaon of Naogaon district and Gomastapur of Chapainawabganj district will be removed.
Sources said, after completion of a survey 108 years ago, a decision was taken to construct railway track covering Rohanpur to Santahar. But, later on the project was abandoned.
If the project is implemented, people of this under-developed region will be linked easily with other regions of the country, sources added.
It would also play a vital role in transporting agricultural products like paddy, mango, jute, sugarcane, wheat, maize, sweet water fish and vegetables which grow in plenty, from the region.
Road transports are now used to transport the produce from the area.
According to sources, in 1910, the then Eastern Bengal State Railway authority conducted a survey to set up railway track from Santahar junction to Rohanpur railway station.
The then Pakistan Railway Board restarted activities to implement the project in 1963. Late Ashraf Ali, head of the survey team, submitted a 194-page report on the construction of the railway track to the then governor of East Pakistan in 1964.
But despite being a potential project, the railway board stopped its implementation. Former Members of Parliament Abul Kalam Azad and late Mozaffar Rahman raised the issue of implementation of this vital project and later, after the liberation in 1979, the issue was also raised in the parliament.
The proposed railway tract was supposed to be both broad gauge and meter gauge, covering 11 railway stations named Naogaon, Hapania Haat, Hazratpur, Jahangirabad, Mohishbathan, Nazipur, Madhail, Sapahar, Saraigachhi Bazaar, Bejora and Dadpur.
The project was also to cover two railway bridges- one near Naogaon Degree College on the river Chhoto Jamuna and the other was at Nazipur on the river Atrai. But, the project was left aside in cold storage for ages.
Professor Ataul Haque Siddique of Naogaon said, the setting up of railway track from Santahar to Rohanpur was very important. It was a long cherished desire of the people of the region.
Besides transporting goods and passengers, people of the country and abroad would be able to visit and watch the real Barind scenario through train travel, he mentioned.
Mijanur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner of Naogaon informed, there is no other means of communication in the area except the road in Naogaon.
