Work on the Eklakhi-Balurghat railway project in progress at Buniadpur. Picture by Surajit Roy

Balurghat, Dec. 16: After a 56-year-wait, Balurghat will once again resume direct rail connection with Calcutta.

The much-awaited Eklakhi-Balurghat railway project is nearing completion and is likely to be inaugurated by the end of this financial year.

The project is expected to solve a lot of problems for South Dinajpur, which lost its railway link after partition and is the only district in north Bengal without a national highway or a railway station.

Sometime in 1983-1984, hope for a railway line surfaced with then railway minister A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury approving the 87.5-km Eklakhi-Balurghat rail project and sanctioned Rs 20.90 crore for the plan.

As Ghani Khan lost his chair soon after, chances of the project ever seeing the light of the day appeared dim. Each year, authorities kept sanctioning a paltry sum to keep the project alive — the total cost has now shot up to Rs 274. 41 crore — until Mamata Banerjee came into the picture as the railway minister and work was resumed in full force.

“The project was scheduled to be completed by December 31, this year. But because of certain hurdles it is not possible to complete the job by that time. We hope to complete it by March 31, 2004,” said project and chief engineer of the Northeast Frontier Railway B.Chowdhury.

In undivided India, residents of Balurghat could travel to Calcutta in just six hours. The distance between the two places is around 440 km.

Things, however, changed after the partition when Hili railway station became a part of Bangladesh, leaving the district without any rail or road link.

At present, the only way to reach Calcutta is to travel 110 km to Malda and board a train to the city.