The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MoFAET), DN Dhungyel, during the 11th Meet-the-Press session clarified that though the Samtse- Banarhat railway alignment has some issues since the proposed track passes through established tea gardens and some private lands, the alignment has not changed.
He said that the Government of India has already agreed to support connecting a railway link between Samtse-Banarhat and Gelephu- Kokrajhar.
He said while there are no issues on the Gelephu- Kokrajhar route, the Samtse-Banarhat route has some issues which the Department of Surface Transport and Indian team visited the site at Samtse. The preliminary survey was completed and FLS is ongoing.
Further, MoIT Minister said that the Department of Surface Transport and Indian team visited the site in Samtse in January 2024.
He said that the ministry was informed regarding a potential land issue in India, but currently, there is no change in the alignment. In fact, the actual alignment can be fixed only after comprehensive studies and surveys, which are currently underway.
Questions was asked to the ministers if there were plans to shift the alignment of Samtse-Banarhat railway to Samtse-Looksan because of the issues.
